Prytaneum
Explosion
It should go without saying that I'd come prepared for a fight. Maybe someday I'd settle all my problems in a calm and civilized manner, but it was pretty rare that that worked out for me. Even before I'd heard the news about Lili, I hadn't been blind to the possibility that something could go wrong—that's why I'd had Mrs. O'Leary take us straight home and why I'd asked Welf to stay with her in the first place. When I left the house to speak with Eina, I made a few quick stops, one of which was to speak with Miach.
Another was to arm myself. I'd bought a few supplies, just in case everything went to Hades the way it usually did. I'd bought a bunch of seashells from my usual vendor, kept my High Magic Potion close at hand, and I hadn't taken off any of my armor. The moment I'd heard Lili was in danger, I'd already been prepared to fight and I'd known exactly what I needed to do: Get her back and kick the asses of anyone who tried to stop me.
Admittedly, easier said than done, especially when there was no surefire way of knowing where she was. As long as Zanis was using her as a hostage, there was only so much I could do without putting her in danger—and more than anything, saving her was the priority. Kicking down Soma's front door, beyond being an all-around enjoyable experience and good stress reliever, had been a part of that.
The way I figured it, Zanis probably wasn't the most trusting of people and he probably hadn't shared the exact details of his plans with his Familia. If I gave him time to set things up and meet on his terms, he was probably going to rig things to his advantage somehow—limiting our contact with Lili, for one thing, or sending people in his place—but me kicking down his front door? Probably wasn't something he'd expected, much less planned for. Calling him out afterwards in front of his entire Familia? Seemed like a pretty good way to get a response and, both for security reasons and because of her worth, he'd probably bring Lili with him, to make sure we didn't try anything.
Once I knew where she was and was close enough, it was just a matter of getting her away from him. Easier said than done, but I had Mrs. O'Leary on my side. Of course, using her for a hostage rescue was a bit tricky since if she just rose from the ground normally, Zanis would probably have time to threaten Lili; I needed to do something unexpected. What, exactly…well, that was a part of my plan I'd been winging. Whether it meant making a sudden attack, playing distraction, or whatever else, I knew I had to get Zanis away from Lili and then get Lili away from anyone who could touch her. But when I'd gotten close enough and found Zanis standing in the shadow of his house—the largest shadow in the entire courtyard—I gave it a shot. Or rather, I trusted Mrs. O'Leary. I knew she could sense me when I called, so I'd whistled for her to attack and trusted her to know who I meant, seeing as Zanis was the only one overtly threatening me and Lili was in his hands.
As usual, Mrs. O'Leary exceeded all expectations. Up until that point, everything went great.
But then…
Then I got the uncomfortable feeling that I may have underestimated Welf's magic sword a bit. I'd known about the threat of Crozzo's magic sword from the stuff I'd heard from Welf and Lili, of course, vague as it was—Welf had confirmed that some of the claims were an exaggeration, but also that they were dangerous to the extreme. The fact that Zanis had a magic sword was the only reason I'd tried settling this as peacefully as I did in the first place, but…damn. I was beginning to feel a bit terrified by the fact that Welf's family had apparently made millions of these things, because the moment Zanis swung it, my vision filled with flames. They roared through the air like a massive wave, expanding in an instant to consume everything I could see.
It was only forewarning that let me put up a proper defense in time. If I hadn't come prepared, if I hadn't noticed what he was doing, I don't know what would have happened—but I was prepared and I did see him. The pouch that hung from my waist quite simply exploded, a couple dozen seashells abruptly releasing a small flood of water that I brought up around us like in a liquid shield just before Zanis completed his swing, bracing myself.
I'd made air bubbles for my friends before; while we were underwater, I mean. I could pull the air out of the water and surround my friend with it, allowing them to breathe beneath the surface and creating a sort of wall between them and the sea. What I did to protect us then was a lot like that—only in a sea of flames. In that moment, I couldn't see what was in front of me or to either side, because it was like I'd just been submerged in a river of fire and the moment it touched the surface of my shield, water turned to steam. It ate through my shield with a speed that startled even me, refusing to falter even in the face of a growing torrent, burning through my defenses with each moment. I pulled at the shells harder with a simple, sudden desperation, and the pressure increased along with the pain in my gut, but it pierced through my shield.
I had a moment to plant myself firmly between Welf and the blast, calling to the sea even as I raised my hands. Yet more water flooded forth, this time from me, and I raised my hands against the flames, screaming with a pain I didn't know the cause of. What I did know was that it helped me maintain the shield and I mustered the flood growing at my feet and side to reinforce my defense. Even my shield didn't keep the temperature within the shield from rising, though, and it did but good. If I hadn't made us both Undine Silk clothes, I'm pretty sure Welf would have died right then and there; we hit oven temperatures in what felt like moments and then left them stranded far, far behind, the heat and steam enough to scald.
The strain and the pain lasted…I wasn't sure how long, but it had probably only been a matter of seconds. Yet when the flames outside my shield died, it was with a relief dwarfed only by setting down the weight of the sky. I let my water shield drop the moment I could, nearly staggering as I did, but we were both alive.
"Percy…" Welf whispered, the sound horrified, and I glanced back at him even as I struggled for breath. He was looking down at my hands—
My hands, I thought, staring at them in horror as I followed his gaze. I'd raised them up to better resist the magical flames and it showed. My fingers were thinner now, my hands looking more like they'd started to melt than burn. Drops of stuff I wasn't sure I wanted to think about fell grotesquely from my fingertips. It was disgusting to look at, but strangely didn't hurt as much as I thought it should have—less, I felt, because it hadn't done enough damage and more because I was pretty sure the nerves in most of my hands had just gotten burnt away. I couldn't move either except for slight twitches I wasn't sure were entirely me and it smelt like something had been cooking.
"I…" I tried, still staring at my hands in shock. I tried to sound reassuring but it came out as more of a croak. I tried again. "I'm fine. You know me, I can recover from damn near anything."
And, hoping that was true, I fell to my knees, putting my hands into the pond I'd created around us, submerging my hands desperately—and in the process, I caught a glimpse of what was behind me. We were surrounded by what seemed almost like walls of smoke, but right behind where I'd made my shield, there was what seemed like a window into what was being hidden.
The sight of it was enough that I was almost glad I couldn't see the rest. I stopped in what I was doing, even the thought of my hands driven from my mind at the sight of the destruction, the flames. The Soma Familia was built on one of the Main Street and now that street was on fire. The fires were raging loud enough that their roar almost drowned out everything else, but in the background I could still hear the muffled sounds of people screaming. In pain? In terror? It didn't matter.
Then a thought occurred to me and I looked back in front of me, at where the smoke mixed with the steam. I couldn't see anything at first, but then the winds churned, blowing the smoke away—and slowing me the bodies. From the porch of Soma's home to the edge of where my shield had been, there were bodies, something I knew mainly because I'd seen people there before the blast went off.
I'd have clenched my hands into fists if my fingers still worked. Odds were, most of these people had done a lot of bad things, especially from what Lili had told me—but that didn't matter. They were victims here, byproducts of their Familia as much as Lili had been. Would they have been good people if not for him? Maybe not, but there was no way of knowing for sure. Wouldn't be any way of knowing, now.
And beyond it all, collapsed on the stairs to his Familia home, was Zanis, staring with wide eyes and seeming as shocked as I was—though whether he was stunned by the power of Crozzo's magic sword or by the fact that I'd survived it, I wasn't sure. Either way, he looked around at…everything, like he couldn't believe it.
"Zanis, you bastard…!" I growled, but I still couldn't quite keep the pain out of my voice.
"Percy…" Welf said again, voice even more horrified then before. I realized belatedly that if I could see it, so could he, and glanced back to see him looking around at the destruction. The look on his face made it seem like he was in more pain than I was—and it took the wind out of my sails before I could even begin.
"Don't, Welf," I said, not looking back at him even as my shoulders fell. "This isn't your fault."
"Then who's fault is it?" He asked numbly. "This is…this is the result of Crozzo's magic sword. The creation of the cursed blacksmiths."
"No!" I said sharply, the sudden sound loud enough that Welf visibly startled. To back it up, I lifted my hand and snarled, calling to my power again. The spike of pain in my chest gave me flashbacks to Ridley Scott movies, but I pushed through it to summon more water. The pool at my feet churned and then flowed away quickly, taking with it all the shells which I deposited carefully along the street. Another flex of will and an agonizing burst of pain made the shells explode into geysers again, the massive columns of water rising forty feet high and scattering over the flames.
But it wasn't enough—I needed more. So I called for that too and felt like someone was stirring my entrails. I bowed over before I could try and stop myself, forehead slamming into the now wet and burned earth, and screamed as what seemed like lightning bolts went off behind my eyes. I tried to get my arms underneath me, but regretted it immediately as agony shot through my hands and I collapsed entirely.
"Percy!" Welf shouted again, kneeling beside me in an instant and helping to pull me up. I tried to focus on his face, but it seemed bizarrely hard to raise my head. Instead, I wound up looking down at my own hands. A drop of blood landed on one, but from where. Not Welf; I'd kept him safe. And while I was hurt pretty damn bad, my injuries weren't bleeding. Not unless I was bleeding from my eyes or nose.
…I hoped I wasn't bleeding from my eyes and nose.
A moment later, however, another drop landed on my hand and then my face, legs, and shoulders. I tried to raise my head and ended up rolling it back uncomfortably instead. As I did, though, I saw the clouds above us churning and darkening with every passing moment and slowly, rain began coming down.
"What?" Welf asked, sounding surprised. "Rain…? But it was…"
He paused and looked down at me.
"Percy, did you…are you doing this?"
I didn't have the energy to answer at first, a bit preoccupied with the rising pain in my gut. You know how you mix eggs and cookie mix and stuff to make cookies? Someone was doing that, but with my intestines. Frankly, it hurt ever more than my hands. As the rain began to come down and cover me, though, I began to feel…still horrible, but in a less personal way and I took a slow, steadying breath.
"Help me up," I told Welf, feeling ill. But between the geysers and the rain, hopefully the fires would be put out before anything worse happened. Welf opened his mouth, maybe to protest, but after a moment he closed it and pursed his lips, nodding.
Standing up was…an experience. I got dizzy enough that I can't say I really remembered any of it, but it probably happened and I nearly threw up. I didn't, thought, which I thought was pretty impressive.
"Magic Potion," I managed, closing my eyes and focusing on breathing. "Left side."
Welf patted around and looked for it silently, probably realizing it would have helped much to ask me anything in this state, but he found it eventually, uncorked it, and brought it to my lips, helping me drink it. The act of actually doing so nearly made me throw up all over again, but I managed and once I drank the High Magic Potion, I maybe, sort of, almost felt like I was still alive. The edge of the pain vanished, at least for the moment, and I managed to focus on the man in front of me again.
"Zanis, put down the sword," I said, as authoritatively as I could while hanging off of someone else.
"What?" The sudden question seemed to startle the man, who I was sure even realized he was still bleeding.
"Put down the sword," I said again. "Look what just happened. Do you really want to be the guy holding it when the Guild shows up?"
Zanis paled even more than he already had, looking terrified.
"No…" He breathed, shaking his head.
"It's over," I said, nearly groaning out the words. "Lili's gone and you can't believe that you have any kind of legal advantage anymore. You just murdered who knows how many members of your own Familia and blew up a street. No amount of lying or rules-lawyering is going to make anyone believe you now. Just go."
"…And you'd let me leave?" He asked, expressionlessly.
"Yes," I said—and the worse part was, I meant it. It felt like drinking acid to say it, but as long as that sword doesn't get swung again, I'd allow it. The lives of all the innocent people now at risk outweighed all of my objections. Besides, I have a feeling Zanis wouldn't stay free for long, regardless of what I did now. "As long as you leave the sword here."
"No," He said, clutching it tighter and looking scared. "You think I don't know? You want to kill me!"
…Well, he wasn't wrong, but he was right in an unhelpful sort of way.
"What I want doesn't matter," I said.
"That's right!" He snapped, apparently trying to drown out fear with anger. "You're scared! You're scared of the power of Crozzo's magic sword!"
I just stared at him.
"Zanis," I said. "It doesn't matter. What do you think the Guild is going to do when they see this? The other Familias? It's over. You're not the head of the Soma Familia anymore; at best, you're a criminal on the run. If you take it with you, they'll just send stronger people after you; leave it here and you might have a chance."
Zanis looked around, eyes wild and frightened behind now smeared glasses, but he knew I was right. Granted, I wasn't sure about the Guild going easier on him, but he was screwed either way.
"It was because of you!" He suddenly shouted, nearly frothing at the mouth. "If you hadn't been here, none of this would have happened!"
Who kidnapped Lili, again? I honestly wanted to ask him that—but he wasn't arguing based on logic any more. He was off in crazy land. But at the same time…
I looked at him silently for a moment and then nodded.
"You're right," I said. "In a way, I'm as much the cause of this as you are. I didn't want to get anyone else involved, didn't want anyone to get hurt, but…it's true that if I hadn't been here, maybe this wouldn't have happened. So maybe we're both responsible. Maybe we both share the blame."
Zanis was looking at me like I was speaking another language. So was Welf, honestly.
"Put down the sword, Zanis," I said, ignoring both of them. "I'll give you a chance, if you do that, for the sake of everyone involved—we'll go to the Guild together and tell them what happened and we'll let them decide our punishment. Just end this now, Zanis. It's over."
He just kept staring, like he couldn't believe what I was saying. Maybe literally couldn't believe it.
But then he swallowed and mustered up his…courage? Maybe just his fear. Once you go far enough, one can look a lot like the other.
"No," He spat. "No, it's not. You're lying and…you…it was your fault—you were the one who did this, a mad man with one of Crozzo's swords. You got close to him to steal it, but Lili figured out your scheme. So you came here to shut her up and did all of this! You're the one responsible!"
I looked at him with complete and utter disbelief. I didn't have enough energy to even really be mad anymore, I was just baffled.
"You can't honestly think anyone will believe that," I said incredulously. "Not with all that's happen. This isn't something you can try to brush aside anymore, Zanis—people will look into this. They'll figure out what happened. Do you have any idea how many witnesses there must be? How many people know about what's happened!?"
He knew I was right, probably—but his eyes were maddened and desperate. Like he had to do everything he could to try and keep what was his.
"It doesn't matter," He told me quietly. "Once I have Crozzo's magic sword…and as long as I have Soma…it doesn't matter!"
"I'll never make magic swords," Welf said before I could answer, eyes still on the destruction even as he held me up. But his words were steady and cold as he spoke. "Not for scum like you. I'd rather die."
"What you want doesn't matter either," He snarled, taking a step towards us. "Once I'm done—"
"No," I said again, pushing away from Welf and stepping in front of him. "That's not going to happen."
"Oh?" He asked, sneering. "And who's going to stop me? You? Have you forgotten what I have?"
He waved his magic sword slightly as he spoke and I eyed it quietly.
"Have you taken a look at it, Zanis?" I asked him, giving him pause—and his eyes widened as he saw what I meant. The blade looked somehow duller now and it was marred by small cracks. It seemed almost fragile, even. "It looks like your magic sword is about to run out. Any thoughts as its maker, Welf?"
"One shot left," Welf stated, sounding certain even as he looked at me with more than a little concern. "And then Crozzo's magic swords are gone."
"You heard him," I told Zanis. "One shot."
"…One shot is all I need to beat you," Zanis answered.
"Bastard…" Welf growled, stepping in front of me. "As if I'll let you! If you want to try, you'll have to kill me, too."
Zanis spat, sneering at him.
"You?" He asked. "I don't even need a sword to bat aside someone like you, and then—"
"Welf, stop," I interrupted.
"Percy, what are you…" He murmured out of the corner of his mouth.
"Handle things once I'm done, okay?" I whispered right back, worried about what he might do if I didn't stop him, before raising my voice. "You think you can beat me in one shot?"
"Yes," He said.
I honestly wasn't sure he was wrong, but…
"Then take it," I said, sounding more confident than I felt. "But if you do—I'll stop you this time, completely and utterly, without anyone else getting hurt. And when I'm done, I'll stop you, too."
His hand shook once before steadying, and then he called my…
Well, I guess we were about to find out if it was a bluff or not.