The storm had begun. Kairon had not come home. Kou waited by the window, blowing warm air against the glass and drawing a childish image of His Majesty's face. He grew unsettled as the skies grew even darker without him in sight. Thunder rolled and growled in the skies. The downpour was heavy.
"Kou!!!"
The viel jolted from his seat from hearing that distraught cry.
"King is in trouble!"
He rushed out of the cabin and charged into uncertainty. Running into the forest without a scent to chase on was grueling. He took random directions; the cold droplets struck his skin and glued his clothes against him like second skin.
"Your Majesty!" Kou shouted.
"Kou! Help me!!!"
"Your Majesty, where are you?!"
Kou darted to the origin of the voice that kept changing whereabouts. One moment the call was east of him and the next the call was on the other side.
"Kou…Kou! It burns!"
The viel's blood had begun to chill from the fear of hopelessness. The sun no longer hid behind the dark skies and had completely set. His king remained out there– in peril and alone– and yet Kou was incompetent. He couldn't protect him. He couldn't fulfill his duty. In the end, the small kingdom that they tried to build in replacement of their previous one was threatening to fall apart again.
Kou fell on one knee. His arm rested on his other thigh. His head was low, he was drenched.
"Where are you? Where…where can Kou find you?" he murmured.
Darkness further grew. The rain didn't appear to be stopping any time soon. His voice kept calling to him from everywhere yet he didn't seem to be here at all. He was far away. He was so far away.
Kou's hand was starting to harden like stone because of the cold. He grew numb. He glanced at his fingertips, his vision blurry from their own nimbostratus clouds.
"What use…am I?"
…
…
…
The fake Kou sighed, jumping down from the casket. "The Kou you're referring to is damaged goods. Lord Mammon is giving you me. What more can you ask for?"
"I'm asking you people to get off my forest yet none of you listen…" Boota replied.
"You have a lot of nerve copying Kou!" Basil snarled.
"Of course, unlike the Kou you're referring to, I still have my nerves intact. You really don't know how lucky you are."
The false Kou took a deep breath, stretching his neck side to side. Hands of varying appearances which represented the breeds mixed into his being burst out of his body, climbing out of him. A large white wolf, a demon, an angel and a humanoid dragon stood before them. All of their eyes were clouded from death. Their flesh was rotting. The angel didn't even seem ethereal anymore. Their stances were limp and awkward yet their grins were wide with pride.
"Stay out of this one, Boota. You don't look so well," Basil teased.
Boota snorted, pulling up his sleeve which showed his already healed arm. "Knowing you, you'll drag this fight on for too long. I'll help you out. This fraud can't even move himself in one piece."
The replicas of Kou's components frowned from Boota's insult. "I'm just as good as the original."
Gaku was about to step in and join but Salem stopped him with his umbrella.
"Let them handle this. It seems personal."
Karma sat down with a groan. His feet were killing him. With his master back, he could relax a bit. The demon and the angel tossed their spears together; the weapons twirled around each other, generating a black and white striped tornado with red surges of electricity. Boota summoned his shield, meeting the tornado head on. Since there were many of them, Boota moved from one place to another, clashing his spear and shield against the replicas, lousily scraping his spear and shield on the ground.
Basil absorbed the electricity into his horn and blasted the stolen energy to the werewolf. Boota clicked his tongue. "You idiot, why did you hit the werewolf?!"
Basil sheepishly smiled. "I forgot he collects energy."
The humanoid dragon lashed out from Boota's side. The doctor quickly turned his shield against him, butting him forward. The dragon dodged, leaping over the shield and landing behind Boota to claw him from behind. Basil attempted to pierce his horn through the dragon's flesh but ended up shoving him forward against Boota. The dragon's scales were too tough to pierce through.
The weapons that Boota managed to defend against returned to their owners. The demon soared and rode the werewolf, charging towards Basil. The angel and the dragon attacked Boota simultaneously. The knights were barely able to keep up with their nimble tag teams. It also appeared that it was stressing Basil out from the amount of scale shedding he was doing that caused the scales to scatter everywhere.
Small black orbs with dark red outlines appeared around Basil. Boota was unsurprised when a white ray of light screened around him and made him genuflect.
"Ring of Humility…" Boota murmured. It was the same with Kou's skills; however, in order to make a person bow down completely, the person creating the skill should possess much humility as well. Boota attempted to rise but the ring's force was formidably strong. "Impressive," he grunted.
The werewolf returned the electricity that Basil struck him with and connected the black dots that appeared, seizing and electrocuting Basil in place. Basil's muscles tensed; his bones rattled; his flesh burnt; his eyeballs rolled back; and his teeth clenched hard before the electrocution stopped and the balls detonated.
"Basil!" Boota snarled, successfully managing to stand. A yellow ray of light created another layer of screen that made the angel fall forward with trembling knees. Boota glanced at his hands, his vision doubling everything around him.
"Master?" Karma queried. They seemed to be losing to the impostor. Shouldn't Salem intervene? The smoke enveloping Basil cleared up, the giant serpent collapsed to his side like a mere skin.
"Not yet," was Salem's simple and nonchalant reply.
"Master!" Gaku yelled.
"Don't…move…Gaku!" Boota weakly ordered.
Standing still and not doing anything to save his master tormented Gaku. A pink light added to the layer around him, causing stinging burns on his hands and face that slowly left charred remains of his skin. With Boota paralyzed and with Basil seemingly gone from the living, the replicas who didn't have anything on their plates turned to Salem and Karma.
And just when Karma thought that he could take it easy.
Salem lifted his umbrella. "I don't like intervening on something personal."
The werewolf released red surges of electricity that would directly strike him.
"But if I must…"
Salem swayed his umbrella, diverting the electric surge to the demon and the dragon. The werewolf jumped, ready to pounce on Salem. One moment the convict was standing still and in the blink of an eye the werewolf was punched and sent across to the other side with Salem's fist emitting smoke. The dragon snarled, his muscles bulking up as he gave Salem consecutive slashes with the sharp fins on his arms and calves. Karma couldn't follow much of his master's movements. The umbrella he was holding a second ago was now flying towards the demon, stabbing him in the eye and through the back of the skull.
"You're a human…no…you're not just a human, aren't you?" The replicas spoke in unison. Impressed yet pissed at the same time. Salem caught the dragon's claws, snapping his wrists with one jerk. The dragon growled, breaking off from his hold and flipping away.
The convict's eyes gleamed, slightly hinting what power he kept in mystery. A circle of winds hailed from his form, blowing away the scales that Basil exuviated. "If I knew, I'd tell you."
Seven layers of light surrounded them. A humble magic circle kept Salem and his subordinate in one piece. Karma wanted to puke. He was burning from the inside and he couldn't keep himself up.
"Ma…master…"
Salem caught him as he constantly absorbed the majority of the damages from the rings to prevent Karma from perishing. There were rapid shifts in his body. Burns and wrinkles would emerge and then he would heal effortlessly.
Gaku was trapped in three rings. He was on his fours, gasping. Blood dripped out from his nose. The rings that surrounded Boota decreased; he was left with one. Seeing this as an opportunity, he regained some strength and busted through the ring to attack the angel. As his spear closed up mere inches, the demon and the dragon appeared, stabbing him in both sides. The werewolf attacked him from behind, clamping his teeth on his shoulder.
'I was rash!' Boota thought, coughing out blood.
"Master Boota!!!" Gaku whimpered.
"How long are you going to stay inside there? You won't help your friends?" the imposter mocked Salem.
"This isn't my fight to poke on. I doubt they'd thank me if I help them.
"Tough talking won't make you win, you know?"
Salem closed his eyes. "I don't underestimate my enemies and you shouldn't either. You forget, you're dealing with two knights who fought against thousands of you."
The angel's eyes widened. A horn penetrated from behind him.
Wait…
He glanced at the serpent lying dead on the ground, noticing that he was really just dead skin.
"You let them catch you, moron," it was a child version of Basil. He was as small and scrawny as a four year old human kid.
Boota grunted. "You were reckless enough to follow General Kou's footsteps."
The replicas were in close proximity to each other. Boota wanted them to follow him closer to the angel but he got skewered in the process. Realization dawned on the hoaxer that the lousy scraping that Boota was making, the scales that Basil shed, and the random execution of harmless wind by Salem created the perfect set up for the purification circle. The circle emitted a bright light that trapped them in place and nullified their demonic powers.
"Judge them, O Lord, all those who wronged me!" Basil chanted.
"Let them be dismayed and ashamed for seeking my soul!" Boota followed. The two of them succeeded each other's prayers to complete the purification spell.
"Turn them into dust and make them lose their paths!"
"For with their evil cause they led me to destruction and for their evil you must in turn be their ruination!
"Glory be to our savior, to our Father, and to the holy spirit!"
"May the spirits of Elysia be with you, now and forever, without end, Amen! " the two of them chanted together.
The replicas screamed like witches burned in a stake. The light blinded all of them. The screams became deeper. Boota gradually felt the weapons withdraw from his flesh yet the presence of the demon remained. Basil felt himself get lifted from the ground. The creature who he pierced his horn into grew in overwhelming size, like a tree having a peculiar growth spurt to reach the skies. Once the light cleared, it all became clear to them now.
This wasn't a demon or ghost that had a dark past to purify. There was no trauma to cure. There was no childhood to go back to. This creature enjoyed hell as his home. He would create as many hells as he wanted to, spreading the deeds of the underworld into the mortal land.
"What are we even doing here?" Salem sighed.
"Same question I ask myself every morning, master."
…
…
…
The torrential downpour unceasingly battered Kou as if the abysmal skies wanted to etch bruises that would remind him of what he had lost. Darkness invaded every space. Kou submitted himself to resignation. Kairon's helpless pleas ceased which made Kou tense as if the rope he was clinging on was severed in an instant.
"Majesty?" he weakly called out.
"Kou."
This time, the voice was a lot calmer and more controlled. It was much nearer and more reachable. The torrent of rain lessened until it became soft pitter patters that neither deafened him nor battered him. He looked behind him, finding the silhouette of his master. The clouds slightly cleared, illuminating his body yet strangely, left his face shrouded in shadows.
"What are you doing sitting there?"
Kou scrambled forward, kneeling before him yet keeping his desperate hands in check. How badly he wanted to touch him. How badly he wished to see him. How badly he prayed to remain by his side until his very last breath.
"Kou was waiting for you, Your Majesty. You were gone for so long, Kou…Kou needed to see you again. Please stay. Please…" He reached up, his hand searching for the warmth that Kairon had always reciprocated.
"I don't want to take you with me anymore, Kou…"
The viel's throat ached. His lips went ajar yet no word came out. Every beat of his heart hurt.
"Why? Is Kou…no longer useful?" Without the hope he expected to get, his hand gradually fell.
Kairon caught his hand, cradling it in between both of his hands.
"In the meantime, will you walk a different path away from me?"
Kairon's kind and gentle eyes gleamed in the midst of the dark and hazy screen.
"Our paths will always cross, Kou, but at the end of this, I promise you, I'll stop making you wait again."
Kou closed his eyes, wiping away the dejection he initially felt. He sandwiched Kairon's other hand with his, savoring the feeling of his icy cold palms that still managed to give fervor. He rose to his feet, feeling the spark of fire inside of him.
"You should get going now. Don't keep your friends waiting."
Kou's lips curled up; his slouched shoulders straightened.
"Kou will be back soon."
Kairon smiled. Kou never says goodbye to him every time he leaves for the battlefield. He didn't like hearing him say goodbye because he had always feared that the field would never let him come home.
He'd usually respond "Hurry home", but this time it was different.
"Let's hurry home, Kou."