The Tetsudo stares at me for a couple more seconds before speaking through a distorted sounding voice. "Pick up these bodies and bring them far away. This armor is extremely valuable, and the enemy will go through great lengths to try to retrieve them. I'm here right now to protect you, but I can't stay here for long, move fast!"
I blink a couple times as my mind struggles to keep up with the situation. "Uh, uh, yes sir!"
"Ma'am." She corrects me with a hint of playfulness in her tone.
"Yes Ma'am!" I say without thinking about it any further. I squat down and bring my hands under the first corpse. The Tetsudo then turns around and then flies straight into the enemy line. Like an angel of war, slashing and cutting through the enemy like butter.
I grunt in exertion. "Shit these are heavier than I thought." I mumble. I take a peak at the Tetsudo from the corner of my eye. If I use Tetsu will she recognize it? After a couple seconds of deliberation, I drag the first body over my shoulder, my shoulders and knees creaking under the strain, and begin to slowly walk towards the forested area. I feel something wet and warm begin to drip onto my arm as this happens.
Goosebumps begin to dot my skin— part disgust and part the hollowness that comes with death.
"I don't know who you are. But..." I begin to mumble, but my thoughts trail off from there, unsure of how to put my feelings into words. After all, what can I say when each and every one of them have the potential to kill the people I've grown fond of. I hated myself for this but… I couldn't help but feel elated that they were all dead.
A minute later, I dump the body, hidden inside a bush. I take a second to let my breath out. Out of everything I was skilled in, it was laughable that having to carry something heavy was one of my weaknesses. Tiny black dots fleck the sky as crows begin to gather around the battlefield. I collect myself and look back down.
Time for the other body.
I look away as I drag the half of the body to the same bush as the first one; I grab both of the swords on the way there as well. No longer thinking, no longer feeling, no longer sensing, I block all outside stimulus and do my job emotionlessly. I then make a second trip following the same procedure.
It was much lighter than the first one.
"You... Look messy." Lydia commented as I regroup with the rest of the squadron. We were able to slip right back together once the Tetsudo joined the fight. I look down at my clothes to find myself completely painted over in red. Covered from tip to toe in blood.
"Oh that..." I mumble but the rest of the words don't come out. My mind seemed to have malfunctioned from all the stress. I normally would have at least tried to wipe the blood off my face, but I can't even seem to bring myself to do that.
"Are you feeling alright?" Lydia asks in a worried tone. "You don't have to stay-"
"No!" I yell suddenly.
Lydia jumps a little bit in surprise from my outburst.
I manage to calm myself down before speaking again, "I'm sorry about that, don't worry about me. I'm a coward; I know when I should flee and when I should stay, and right now, I know I have enough energy to stay."
Yes, I'm fine. Everything's fine. Why are you so afraid? You've already passed the hardest part. Why do you hide your fire? Nobody has died. You weren't particularly useful, but now the Tetsudo can clean up the rest. You got lucky, don't think about it any further.
Despite saying this, I was on the verge of completely passing out, my brain, as trained and resilient as it was, barely able to hold in the stress.
"I need a weapon." I feel sick.
"Ah, thanks for that." My head hurts.
"Formation 5!" I'm going to throw up.
"Look's like we're going to get through this alright." Stop it.
"This is the last campaign I'm obligated to be in, I can't wait to get back and see how much my son has grown." I'm scared I'm scared.
"Hey, keep your spearhead up a bit more." I'm scared I'm scared I'm scared I'm scared I'm scared.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
"... Huh?" I feel my cheeks and then begin rubbing them harder as my fingers slide over them smoothly.
Bythem stares at me grimly as the attention of the squadron turns on me.
"I- I'm fine~ there's no need to worry about me." My voice shakes as I say this.
"There's no need...", "You can sit this one out...", "The first one is always rough..." I'm immediately flooded with a crowd of encouragement.
"No, like I said-" I begin.
"No. He stays." Bythem interrupts me with a finality to his tone.
"Huh? What are you saying? He's obviously having some issues. This isn't like you." Lydia objects strongly.
"Roak, or rather whatever your real name is. Whenever the time comes, You'll be strong enough to act on it. I promise…" Bythem hesitates. "Don't worry." Bythem says, ignoring the protests that rise up.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being the one you found yourself with... Bythem. I'll do my best."
"What are you even talking about?" Bythem says while his mouth slowly turns into a smile. "We're the lucky ones."
Confused sounds rise across the squadron. Lydia looks at me suspiciously for a fraction of a second before murmuring something to herself.
I chuckle weakly. "I guess so."
That's right; when the time comes, I have to do what I gotta do. Yes, that's right, I can do it. Bythem turns back to the enemy and charges forward. The rest of us following in his wake. I do a battle yell as we collapse onto the quickly crumbling enemy. The Tetsudo weaves beautifully through the enemy line, effortlessly cutting down, effortlessly dodging enemy attacks, as slippery as an eel. She flickers around like a mirage, manipulating micro scale changes of the light refracting around her, disorienting the enemy's sense of distance and position.
Am I... Going to get through this without having to lift a finger? The enemy begins to thin out, some running away, some standing their ground before falling. They're weak and disorganized, their leadership in nowhere to be found.
Slowly but surely I was driving all my worries into a corner, storing away where it wouldn't bother me anymore
"Help! Help! We need help on the left front! They suddenly greatly strengthened their forces!" The Tetsudo turns her head to the messenger running.
"I'll be there shortly." She responds curtly in her distorted voice, before taking off into the air and flying away.
"Cmon boys and girls! We don't need her to clean up the rest! Formation 12!" Bythem yells
I roar in response, swept up by the unrelenting energy coursing through the air. Our shield line broke up as we began rushing forward like beasts starving for blood.
Wind sword. I whisper in my mind as blades of fast flowing air began to coalesce on the tip of my spear. I thrust forward and rend right through the armor of an enemy soldier. No resistance whatsoever. As the tip comes out through I yank it out the side, and in the exact same motion I bury the spear into another soldier's gut.
A smile begins to unknowingly creep up on my mouth. Pinwheels of blood decorate the air as I slash and slash. I feel... Powerful, I did it! Nobody died!
I feel elated, for some reason I don't feel any hint of nervousness right now, my heart rate had lowered drastically from a couple seconds ago. I was simply focused.
The enemy begins to flee from my presence; I don't mind; I stab them as they turn their back to me. Childish giggles begin escaping from my mouth, very unbefitting of my regular personality. I run even deeper into enemy lines, separating from the rest of the group. A switch had been flipped in my mind, all the worries, stress, anxiety melted away as I began to kill more and more.
Haha! Why was I even thinking that any of us were going to die! I can just do this and I never need to reveal my powers!
The once disgusting vibration of the spear as it cut through flesh just became another sensation for me. I let out more and more of my wind in an extremely adrenaline fueled rush of concentration and focus. I could control my spear like never before, it grew faster and faster as I was able to release my full potential. I hear someone shout something. I ignore it and continue tearing through the enemy.
If I kill everyone here, then I can keep my promise; nobody from the squadron will die; they can return home to their families; I'll save their lives! I'll finally become something good!
Someone shouts something again. Blood splatters against my clothes, my spear breaks once more, but I don't mind. I continue fighting with the broken shaft, in fact it was even more useful since the broken wood was sharp enough to pierce skin.
I begin audibly laughing.
"GOD DAMN IT, LOOK BACK OVER HERE YOU DAMNED TETSUDO!!!!!" Bythem's hoarse, ear-shattering shout rouses me out of my zone. I turn my head around, and then the second they enter my sight; in almost slow motion I see Bythem's neck be pierced by a black blade.
Huh?
Bythem's eyes turn white as his pupils roll up. A black-armored tears the blade out of his throat and continues moving forward.
Did we...
For the first time, I begin hearing screams of voices I was familiar with.
Were we flanked?
Blood flies out of Lydia's throat as a sword runs through the area where her lungs should lay.
I see...
An enemy soldier sees my lapse in concentration and slashes down into my head.
The reason I didn't want to reveal my powers was because I was afraid.
His sword melts into an liquid metal hot inferno, burning up his arms along side with it.
Afraid of rejection.
I drop my spear and bring both of my hands forward.
I almost feel like I'm about to laugh.
I adjust my aim, pointing away from the dead bodies that lay on the ground.
At how much I hate myself right now.
The battlefield splits into two. A pillar of flame the size of a mountain sweeps through the flanking army. Everyone stops fighting as they turn their heads to the spectacle.
That stress had never disappeared. I simply couldn't handle it, so my brain decided to drown it out with a burst of euphoria, so I became careless.
I slowly walk forward through the charred wasteland, not even bones remained of those that were near the epicenter. Some further away ran around the battlefield screaming from the pain of fire. The wind picks up, sweeping up the ashes that remained, scattering them into the air.
I slowly make my way back to the squadron. The enemy scatters as I approach them. I bring my arm up once again, aiming at the retreating figures. I then bring it back down. Then I bring my arm back up.
…
I bring it back down.
No point in killing them if it's only for revenge… I guess.
I smile in self-derision. Look at you, trying to act so virtuous after all this time. Are you already trying to make up for that mistake... no, the person you are? My outer thoughts and inner thoughts clashed, but I knew which one of them was the real me.
I stop thinking about the enemy soldiers and look at the ground. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one dead in that brief period of inattention.
That's strange… I'm not crying right now for some reason.
Bythem's large frame lies slumped on the ground, blood still gushing out of his throat. I stare at him with ragged eyes. I walk up slowly, crouch down, and swipe my hand across his eyes, closing them shut.
Did I expect this or something? I can't feel anything right now. Heh, where did all my emotions go?
I do the same with every other corpse lying on the ground. Until I finally reach Lydia, I reach my hand over her face.
Warm and moist air hits my hand as this happens. I blink a couple times. Hold on, is that her...
She's alive! She's still breathing! A spark lights back up in my soul.
"I need someone who knows Sananku! Anyone? Anyone at all!" I suddenly shout. Nothing, no reply. Everyone remaining in the squadron cowered from my presence.
"Hey, don't joke about this... There's gotta be someone right?" My voice was breaking.
I turn to the enemy whom were quickly trying to retreat at this point. I switch to wind and fly forward at my top speed, landing square right in the middle of their group.
The crowd quickly disperses around me, forming a ring. They bring up their spears and weapons against me, but I could see the arms of their body shaking in fear as they confront me.
"I only ask for one thing. Then I'll swear that nobody will burn. Do you have anyone here that knows Sananku? Anyone who can heal." I say in the calmest voice I could muster at that moment.
Nobody replies for a good five seconds.
I then flare up, fire erupting all over my body as my stress begins to spill over. I then take a moment and calm down, extinguishing my fire and sitting down on the ground disarmingly.
"I've killed a lot of you guys without giving any thought to who they were personally. I know I do not deserve this grace, but..." I begin to choke up in tears. "Please... Help me undo some of the evil I've caused." I say, backpedaling from the threatening posture I had beforehand.
I bow my head low to the ground. "If there is anyone in your group whom is skilled enough to save a life. Please come forward."
One second passes. Two seconds pass. Three seconds. I dig my nails into my palm until they drew blood. Clenching my teeth until I felt like they were about to crack. Four seconds.
"I can help!" I look up to see a young woman making her way through the crowd. I open my mouth in surprise, not sure what to say. I could see in her eyes just how scared she was. Despite this…
"Bring me to the wounded person. I was once a doctor before I had to join the army."
"Th-thank you." I grab the soldier by the waist and propel myself into the air and out of the crowd. We land right next to all the bodies and the place where Lydia lied. I let go of her and she hurries and crouches down next to Lydia. She places her hand on her forehead and concentrates. I watch tensely as this goes down.
"I think I can save her." She tears Lydia's jacket off and brings her hands over the punctured area, closing her eyes. I begin to pace around, watching them closely. For eight minutes nothing seems to happen, the wound doesn't close, blood still oozes out. All of a sudden, Lydia's skin begins to wiggle around unnaturally as if it were some sort of liquid, blood begins to filter out as her two halves of skin begin to fuse together, closing up the wound.
The soldier collapses to the ground, panting heavily. "That's all I can do in this short amount of time. If she rests and doesn't exert herself for a while, her body should be able to fix itself naturally." She says.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. I bring my hand down, offering to help her get up. "I promise I'll find you and pay you back someday. Tell me your name."
She laughs a bit, "My name is Thi, but I chose this of my own volition, I don't expect nor need a reward." She grabs my hand, and I pull up.
Only to find myself holding a severed arm. Blood splatters all over the ground, a deep gorge is rended into the stone plain, slicing straight through her body, cutting the soldier in half.
I stare at the scene, not quite registering what just happened. Hey… are you… okay? Thi? I begin shaking. Did she just… die? I the sharp, high frequency sound of wind cuts through the air, the sound delayed from the slash. I turn around to see a silhouette, outline against the sun, of that same Tetsudo, the one who saved me, the one who cut through all our enemies, rapidly flying to the ground. I begin to boil, fire filling me up, every single corner of my body. I bring my hand up, aiming directly at the oncoming Tetsudo.
My arm shakes, the whites of my eyes turn red, internal hemorrhaging from blood vessels popping in my pupils. Blood fills my mouth as I sink my teeth halfway into my tongue.
After the turbulent ride of emotions I had just experienced, all of it had coalesced and turned into one single feeling, consuming my body from the inside out. Cracks begin to form within my soul, threatening to shatter into pieces, irreversibly changing my sense of self forever.
Die.
A tiny wisp of fire lazily drifts into the sky. I then clench my fingers together in a fist, veins popping out of my arm in concentration. The Tetsudo suddenly realizes what's going on and attempts to blow away the wisp. Only to get engulfed in a sea of fire as all the oxygen around the wisp simultaneously combusts at the same time.
The Tetsudo emerges from the inferno unscathed, creating a completely empty void behind her. As the fire dissipates, the air surrounding her implodes into itself as if it was getting sucked in by a black hole.
Fire requires air to burn, and wind requires a difference in air pressure to form. So when you take all the air away from an area, fire can't burn, and air will rush in afterwards. My clothes and hair flap violently as the entire battlefield faces an updraft from the vacuum created by the Tetsudo.
I take the opportunity to switch to wind, lightening my body and riding the wind along side it. Fire may be useless, how about heat?
I begin to burn like a furnace, radiating heat like the sun, the Tetsudo, as she sees me approaching immediately cuts through her gauntlets, exposing her open palms to the air.
Heat takes time to travel, and that includes needing time to travel through air. My heat never reaches her as she begins to constantly take up and replace the air standing between us. The air heats up, then is sent off in a separate direction while being replaced with cooler air.
"You didn't see what she was doing right? Or are you just ev- … just arrogant." I say. For some reason I just couldn't bring myself to care about what was good and what was bad anymore.
Good people don't exist, bad people don't exist either. It's all an imaginary concept made up in my head to make myself feel better that I'm self aware about my old self; however, in reality, I am as foolish as I've ever been.
It's just that simple.
The Tetsudo's lips stay sealed as she creates a downdraft, sending me into a free fall into the ground.
Weight, Force and speed are correlated. Changing one aspect will ripple off on others. I bounce harmlessly off the ground as I reduce my weight to negligible amounts, reducing the force in which I hit the ground multiple fold.
"Someone, take Lydia out of here!" I yell as I land on the ground, the soldiers shift around and hesitate. "GO! I'll protect you!"
I lift my finger to the sky, a miniature sun forms on the tip, however it emanates no heat. Instead pure light, enough to blind anyone permanently for a half of a second of exposure, I point it right into the Tetsudo's eyes.
She immediately lifts her arm over her eyes, and tries to look away.
"Now's your chance!" I shout. One of the soldiers runs in, grabs Lydia and slings her over his shoulder, and begin running back.
I stop shining the light as everyone around me clears out.
I then relax my arm and stare at all the bodies lying around me.
I then begin walking away from the corpses slowly. "Follow me. I don't want to disturb their bodies." I say in a low voice.
"I don't want to fight." The Tetsudo speaks for the first time; however, complying with my orders.
"It's too late for that, one of us is going to die here." I speak with an unsettling calmness.
"I apologize for what happened earlier. I didn't check to see what that soldier was doing."
"Thi."
"Huh?"
"The soldier's name was Thi."
The Tetsudo hesitates, unsure of what to say.
We continues walking until we were an adequate distance away from the bodies.
"Don't know how to respond huh?" I say, before bringing my hands to the air and shooting out a massive column of fire.
She instantly sucks up all the air around her once again, preventing the fire from reaching her. However, this mass of fire should be obscuring her vision of me right now.
I close my eyes and concentrate. First goes my fingers and toes, then my hands and feet, then my arms and legs, then the rest of my body turns and morphs into a flame. I melt in and camouflage with the rest of the fire.
I hear a yelp of surprise as I seemingly materialize out of nowhere from right behind her. An explosion rocks the sky and then reaches the ground shortly after.
I suspend myself in midair, trails of smoke falling off my shoulders. Both of my hands outstretched forwards. I breath in deeply, the poisonous smoke coming in through my nostrils. However, I don't smell it, the energy released by Tetsu could never affect its source in any negative way.
The Tetsudo spirals away in midair, smoke trailing off her forearms, her armor had been blasted off and her arms had been burnt and damaged heavily. However, all the damage seemed to be contained to there.
I fall back to the ground and slowly approach her.
"Hey Cain..." The Tetsudo began.
My shoulders stiffen up at the sound of my name but I continue walking.
"I'm not going to fight back. I don't want to kill you." She says.
"What made you so peaceful all of a sudden?" I snarl.
"What do you mean? Do you not recognize me?" She says confused.
"We knew each other back home?" I pause for the first time.
She brought her arms behind her helmet and unfastened the harnesses connecting it to the rest of the armor. She lifts it over her head.
Her hair spills out like a waterfall, revealing the face underneath.
I blink for a couple of seconds trying to register the image in front of me, and then I couldn't help but chuckle, despite the situation I was in.
"When I think about it. Something like this isn't all that out of character for you— Fiao."
Standing in front of my was my very own sister. The first time I've seen her since Ornn died more than a year ago. Her hair had grown out much longer than before. Yet her eyes. Grey, stormy and... Unfeeling. They were still the exact same.
"I'm sorry brother; I truly am. All I saw was the design of her uniform and my body moved on its own." She says.
"Sister... Why are you apologizing to me? You haven't done anything to me." I say in response. "The only people you can apologize to are her loved ones now."
Fiao looks at me for a couple of seconds, taken aback by my words. "You've changed haven't you?" She finally says.
"And I can tell that you haven't changed one bit since the last time we saw each other." I tell her.
We stand in silence for a good minute.
"Fiao. I want to kill you right now." I say solemnly, echoing my true thoughts at the moment.
"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" She says.
"...I don't know. All I know is that there's nothing you can do that can change my mind at the moment." Indeed, a wave of unnatural calmness had swept over me. No more anger, no more strong emotions; I simply believed that my sister deserved death.
We both flex our palms at the same time. I hear the signature sound of the wind sword forming. An explosion of hot searing steam erupts from my hand as I transition between fire to water and then back. I needed this steam in order to track where her wind was coming from or else it would just be invisible.
I stare intensely as the outline of her invisible blade forms against the mist. Similarly, my sister eyes move furiously to track my every move as well.
The ability to recognize, process, and react to outside stimulus. Our eyes and brains have to be incredibly sharp in fights like these when we don't have the ability to increase reaction times on purpose like Ankudo. It's the biggest barrier for those with strong inherent Tetsu but weak battle sense, and the equalizer for those who have weak Tetsu but strong intuition.
Outside of this, the fighting had all but completely ceased as both enemy and ally stop to watch the battle between the two Tetsudo.
Fire clashes against wind, the whole area goes up in flames as the two of us clash with our raw power.
I begin hurling fireballs at her as fast as I could make them. She manipulates the air around her to dodge and weave and sometimes brings her sword up to dispel the fire. She no longer had the option to create a vacuum to eat up the fire; it took tons of energy and effort to create, and since we were so mobile, she would have to expend that effort multiple times.
As she steadily draws closer, I suddenly switch to wind and create a backdraft to put some more distance between us. I jump back expecting to feel the familiar sensation of wind that would carry me away, however the mist behind me doesn't shimmer. The backdraft never forms.
Fiao flies through the mist unchallenged, and before I know it, her open palm is on my forehead. My entire body whips back, slams, and bounces off the ground as Fiao unleashes a burst of air right into my face.
My head rings even though I managed to cushion the blow ever so slightly. I forgot just how good my sister was at reading the wind currents of others and providing a countercurrent to nullify it…
No… I just forgot how to fight other Tetsudo. I clench my teeth; she could have easily killed me right there if she just stabbed me.
I switch to water and let out another cloud of steam. I jump and roll to the right as a giant current falls from the sky and barrages the ground I was previously standing on.
However, I don't totally avoid it as the resulting aftershock launches me far into the air. No longer holding back huh? I stare at her figure in the distance as I spiral through the sky. Her arms were dangling limply, blood dripping off of them from the previous injury I gave her, and yet she was still able to fight to this degree.
I close my eyes for a split second. Looks like this isn't going to be able to cut it. This will probably debilitate me for a couple of days after but... I burn my shoes off exposing my bare feet to the air. As long as she dies, I don't care what happens to me after.
The blood in my body begin going up in flames, violently coursing and turning the inside of my body into an inferno. This continues until my body hovers in a state of half energy and half material matter. Or as people back home liked to call it— Living Flame.
Massive streams of fire begin shooting off all my limbs, I twirl and orient myself midair using the force created by those streams to launch myself back at Fiao.
I twist myself back, my leg begins to glow white hot as I whip it forward in a kick. A giant pillar of flame flies off the kick and collapses on Fiao,
I was infinitely more speedy and mobile, radiated an intense amount of heat, and was unleashing an incredible amount of fire all at the same time due to this mode. Fiao brings both her hands to the side in a defensive position. As the fire reaches her, it warps around her like a bubble, as all the air around her is sucked up in a second vacuum. I kick again and again, firing off a massive continuous stream of fire. The stone ground around her turns red hot and begins to liquify and bubble as I poured more and more of my Tetsu into it.
Even if the fire doesn't reach her, the heat radiating from the flames must be cooking her alive in there. Blood begins to dribble out of my mouth, I could no longer feel any of my limbs, and the pounding in my head begins to grow louder and louder. Here comes my limit... I bring both of my hands forwards, drop to the ground, and intensify the fire.
My vision grows blurry, is this... it...? My brain and thoughts gradually begin to slow down, threatening to pull me into unconsciousness. I stop glowing as the living flame state becomes unsustainable. Slowly but surely my ocean turns into a river, which turns into a stream, which dries up as the last of my flame is released from my body.
Finally, a figure appears from within the fire, still holding exact same position as before, hands crossed, open palm facing both sides. Her head was down, hair draping over her face hiding it.
My sister lifts her head up. Her skin was splotched bloody red from severe burns, the whites of her eyes had turned red from all the heat drying it out.
Can she still fight back? I tense up. I had gone well past my limit a while ago. Any further and I simply might pass out dead.
Fiao's lips slowly curl up, trembling, as if there was a heavy weight attached to her mouth, until it finally forms a small smile. "...Don't push yourself too hard alright? Little bro."
She promptly falls to her knees and collapses on the ground. A tiny figure on a tiny unblemished circle of rock, surrounded by a sea of red hot coals.
I slowly lift my foot and take a step forward, knees shaking all the while. I manage to painfully drag my body forward until I was standing right next to her side.
A tiny ball of flame appears in my hand, the last bit of Tetsu I had left. All I had to do now was to hold it to her nose and mouth, she'll breath in the hot ash, scorching her lungs and suffocating her, and then she'll be dead within seconds.
I get on my knees and brush the hair off her face. Her extremely faint breath tickled my fingertips.
"Seriously…" I hold the ball of flame up in the air about to bring it down.
"Why does everything always have to be so hard?" I clench my hand and extinguish it.
"Why did you have to be here." I cry in a quiet but hoarse voice.
Now that she was so small and defenseless, all the bloodlust I had quickly disappeared. I cover my eyes with my arm and drop down to the ground, lying shoulder to shoulder with her. Slipping away from consciousness, just like her.
"Let nobody die."
"After all, that's what you're going to Kaldros to do right?"
"How disappointing…"
"This is how it ends up huh?"
"No, that's not what I think. I think you're a good person."
"I just want to die."
"Son…"
I close my eyes and stop thinking.
I'm tired.
Cain's total casualties: The death of 470 Oliviand soldiers
Fiao's total casualties: The death of 328 Oliviand Soldiers
Cain's story part 1 END