The briny sea air stung his eyes, and his whole body felt like it was on fire. The wind raced across Psyche's face as he sprinted towards the serpent's head.
He would have to get it to open its jaw again, perhaps provoke it into firing another energy attack.
He had turned Aldrich's relic back into its original form and slipped it into his armor; he wouldn't need it for the next part. Then, with both hands now empty, he was able to use his Virtue freely.
The serpent's back had become too steep to run up, so he launched himself into the air and kept himself moving with concurrent blasts from both hands.
The serpent glared at him through the eye he hadn't already gouged out. He fired a small blast of air at it to anger it even more.
It worked. The creature unhinged its jaw, readying for another attack.
Psyche grinned. Then, he flew right into its open mouth.
×
Aldrich stared in shock as the serpent's mouth clamped shut.
Syd stood right beside him. "Did he just…"
Aldrich nodded. Psyche had flown straight into its mouth. He knew Psyche was crazy, but this was another level of reckless for him.
"He has a plan, right?" Syd asked, dumbfounded.
Aldrich could only hope so, but with Psyche's track record he was doubtful.
×
It was pitch black and smelled horrible. Psyche couldn't see anything, but it didn't matter; he didn't need to see for what came next.
The serpent's scaled exterior had reduced his air blasts to mostly a nuisance. But there were no scales to protect it here. He was going to let out all the air he could muster.
An implosion. Blood and guts would fly everywhere. It would be glorious.
He shut his eyes, felt the power coursing through his veins, flowing all the way to the tips of his fingers. He held it there until it had built up past the breaking point.
Then he let it all out at once. All the energy he had been holding dissipated and in exchange the air around him exploded.
He cracked open his eyes, and it wasn't dark anymore. He was falling through the air, towards the water below. Chunks of what used to be the monster's head were falling with him.
He had succeeded. But with every second that passed, the sea got closer. He barely had any strength left to stop his descent. He stretched out a hand and let out one last gust.
Not enough to stop his fall completely, but it did keep him from breaking the rest of the bones in his body when he collided with the icy cold water.
But even with that solved, he began to sink. The blast had completely drained him. He had no energy to swim to the surface, especially with the extra weight from his armor.
He closed his eyes as he continued to drift deeper…
But then he felt an arm around him. They were moving upward, towards the surface. A few seconds later, they broke it. Psyche coughed up seawater as Aldrich gasped for air beside him.
Aldrich gave him a half-smile. "Couldn't just let you die after all that, now could I?"
Slowly the two of them made their way back to what was left of the dock. Syd was waiting for them and helped haul Psyche out of the water.
Psyche flopped onto the deck and rolled onto his back, taking deep breaths.
Syd sat down beside him, pushing hair out of her eye. "That was… incredible. Extremely stupid, but still very impressive. These Virtues might just be all they're cracked up to be after all."
"Might be?" Psyche laughed, then regretted it immediately. His ribs were still broken.
Their victory was short-lived, though. From behind them came a slow clap.
Syd and Aldrich got up immediately. About a dozen figures had snuck up on them, all clad in black cloaks with hoods obscuring their faces, except for the one in front.
An older man with a stern-looking face. He was the one who had been clapping. But Aldrich could tell he wasn't there to congratulate them.
"First you refuse to become a sacrifice for our Lord's second coming. And now you go and involve knights," the man berated, but he wasn't addressing Aldrich or Psyche. "Sydni, your impertinence truly knows no bounds."
Syd drew her sword once more. "It's over, fath-… Deidrick. Your stupid god is dead. Slain by a human, no less."
The man laughed, an unpleasant sound. "This is far from over, my dear girl. It is but a minor setback, inconsequential. What you killed is but a vessel, not the true god."
He lifted a hand from under his cloak and waved it. All around them, the pieces of the serpent's body began to reform. It wasn't an instant reformation; it would take a few minutes before the serpent was as it was before.
"No!" Syd yelled.
Deidrick lowered his arm back under his cloak. "You have accomplished nothing. But fear not, my dear. Now all three of you can become sacrifices to our Lord, to inaugurate his true rebirth."
Aldrich stole a quick glance at Psyche. He hadn't moved from the ground. He and Syd were on their own for this one.
"Why the distraught looks?" Deidrick asked. "You should be elated. Your meaningless lives will now serve a much greater purpose than you could ever imagine."
Syd scowled in anger. "Is that what you told mom before you killed her?!"
Deidrick answered her with a disdainful look. "Is that what this is all about? You're still angry about that woman's death. You really need to learn how to let things go, my dear."
Syd scoffed in utter disbelief at the man's indifference.
"Well, I guess it's too late now anyway," he continued. He began to step back into the crowd of hooded people behind him. "Kill them."
The hooded figures began to move towards them, revealing their concealed weapons. Aldrich felt a tug on his clothes. He looked down to find Psyche handing him something.
His relic.
"Don't die," were Psyche's only words before his eyes fell shut.
Aldrich nodded as his fingers closed around it. In his hand, it morphed back into a silver longsword. He brought it forward, clasping its hilt in both hands.
"My father seems to have some sort of control over the serpent," Syd said to him. "If we stop him quickly, we just might be able to keep the serpent from reviving."
Okay, Aldrich thought to himself. All he had to do was fight off about thirteen people and hopefully stop the sea serpent from being fully reformed. Psyche could probably do it, and he was counting on him so…
He and Syd exchanged a quick, knowing nod before charging ahead.
×
Aldrich had lost sight of Syd in the flurry of black cloaks. Everything was moving so fast; he had no time to look for her.
But from the outraged look that had been on her face earlier, he had no doubt she was making her way towards her father.
Meanwhile, he blocked weapon strikes from all over. He had been surrounded by the cultists, but even so, they lacked actual fighting skills. So it was easy enough to fend off their attacks and then take them out as non-lethally as he could manage.
Maybe all the beatings he had taken from Larian had actually helped him improve. He chuckled dryly as he ducked under a sword swing and swept the attacker off their feet with a low kick.
While he did that, Syd had managed to break through the crowd and was headed straight for Deidrick. She felt trickles of sweat begin to fall down her face; it had gotten way hotter all of a sudden.
Deidrick didn't move even as she got closer and closer. He just stood there, with that same relaxed look on his face—as if he hadn't murdered countless people, as if he hadn't killed her mother. And all for what? A stupid sea snake.
She yelled in frustration as she plunged her sword into his chest. It went straight through and came out the other side. But even then, his expression remained the same.
"My dear girl," he spoke, placing a hand over the blade of the sword. "I already told you, this is futile. Why resist so hard?"
Syd tried to yank the sword back out, but her father held on to it. It wouldn't budge.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said. He pulled the sword out. "Did you want this back? Here."
A split second later, Syd found her own sword buried in her own stomach. But she wasn't as sturdy as her father seemed to be. She coughed up blood and stumbled backward.
Deidrick lifted both hands from under his cloak and began to turn around slowly. "Lord Belphegor's rebirth is almost upon us. He will swallow this unjust world and usher in a new era."
As he said that, a roar came from the sea. The sea serpent had fully reformed.
Deidrick focused on his daughter again. "All he requires now… are the last three sacrifices."
He began to reach for Syd, whose whole shirt was soaked with blood now. But before his fingers could touch her, she was whisked away by an unknown figure.
The figure stopped a few dozen meters away from him, with his daughter in their arms.
"Sorry about this," Levi apologized in advance before pulling the sword out of her stomach quickly.
Syd gasped in pain. He placed his hand over the wound and concentrated on closing it.
"We would have gotten here sooner, but the mountains we were near to got blown up."
With her cut now closed, Levi placed her gently on the floor before getting up to face the cult leader.
"Another nuisance has arrived," Deidrick sighed, shaking his head. "But it matters not, Lord Belphegor shall soon consume all."
[Abaddon scoffed loudly. I'd like to see that fat fool try. Let me out.]
"Relax, there's no need now," Levi replied. He could already feel the air begin to sear.
"After all, the strongest knight just arrived."