"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."
(---)
The moment I step into the capital, my focus sharpens. My objective is clear: reach the Cathedral at the highest point of the city. But marching up the main staircases like a fool would only invite trouble. The guards here are no joke - I'd rather not waste time cutting through them.
Instead, I slip into the underbelly of Suzou, where the city's past and present intersect in a labyrinth of tunnels. The sewers and abandoned mining platforms beneath the capital weave a path that few dare to navigate. But I've been here before - once, as a child. Even after all these years, the memory of this city's bones remains intact in my mind.
Descending rusted metal stairs, I step onto a vast iron platform suspended over darkness. The air here is stale, thick with the scent of rust and damp stone. Dim, flickering lights cast twisted shadows across broken machinery and abandoned carts. Scattered among them, the remnants of lives lived in the margins - rags, empty bottles, and makeshift bedding. A haven for the forgotten.
Yet tonight, the place is eerily silent. Too silent.
I move toward the railing, peering down into the abyss below, contemplating my next move.
Then-
...Fwosh...
A shift. Something darting through the refuse.
I freeze. My fingers graze the hilt of my sword.
"What was that?"
From the corner of my eye, I glimpse a shadow, swift and erratic, scuttling like an insect trying to evade the light.
...Fwosh... fwosh...
Again, a flicker of movement, this time near the stairs.
(There it is again.)
(A ghost? Please, say it's not a ghost.)
(No. The air here doesn't carry the weight of the dead.)
(We know the feeling of spirits lingering, clinging to existence, and this... this is something else.)
Something familiar.
...Fwosh... fwosh... fwosh...
A slow exhale escapes my lips. "If I may ask," I say to the darkness, my voice steady, "what the hell is wrong with you? You're drawing power from the Boundary, aren't you?"
Silence.
Then, as if breaking through the veil of reality itself, it emerges.
A slithering, amorphous mass of red-black sludge, its form shifting, writhing, hungry. Bone fragments, grotesque eyes, and grinning mouths push through the viscous surface before sinking back into the depths of its own flesh. Atop its malformed body, a white mask with three hollow openings - mockery of a face.
It speaks. A voice fractured, distorted, more static than sound.
"I fe... el... po o... Azure of... y..."
I stiffen.
No.
No, it can't be.
I know this presence. I know this voice.
"...I wish I were wrong, but it's really you... Henward."
A bitter taste lingers in my mouth as I say his name.
Once, he fought beside me - a mind sharper than any blade, always irritating, always brilliant. He was monstrous in form, but this? This is degradation. Decay. Madness consuming what little was left of him.
"You've gone completely insane, haven't you, old friend?"
"Azure! zure! Az re! want! must ha ve! Gehyahyahyahya!"
His body ripples, expanding outward like a grotesque tidal wave, tendrils snapping against the ground with wet, sickening sounds.
"Idiot," I mutter, fingers tightening around my sword. "Seeking power in this way..."
Talking is useless. The Henward I knew is long gone.
I draw my weapon - Fireseal.
A sword unlike any other, its broad rectangular blade is dull, a deceiving design. Its guard? A butane lighter's wind guard and ignition wheel. A relic of fire, a Legacy Weapon of a forgotten age, capable of unleashing flames hot enough to devour even the unnatural.
Henward lurches forward with a piercing shriek, his grotesque limb stretching unnaturally, warping into a jagged lance of fused bone. His charge is blistering - inhuman. The ground quakes beneath his weight.
I step into his attack, Fireseal raised. The impact slams through me like a hammer against steel, sparks screaming as metal grinds against bone. My feet skid across the platform, but I hold my ground.
Then, I ignite the blade.
Flames erupt in a violent surge, coiling like starving serpents, turning the air blisteringly hot in an instant. Fireseal carves into Henward's mass, and a cacophony of agonized voices erupts from the mouths writhing across his body. He twists, writhes-
Yet he does not burn.
Instead, he shifts, his body liquefying into a sludge-like mass, escaping the inferno with an unnatural fluidity. In an instant, jagged bone blades rupture from his flesh, spinning like a grotesque turbine as he hurls himself at me once more.
Tch.
I summon a construct - an enormous bronze gear materializing in the air before me, its edges shimmering with protective runes. The spinning death collides with it, the impact shaking the very foundation beneath us. Metal shrieks. Bone fractures.
No hesitation. I send the gear forward, turning defense into attack, its momentum a blur of killing force.
But Henward is faster than it.
His body distorts, slipping through the gaps like a phantom, reforming behind me in an instant. His mass surges outward, a tidal wave of corrosive filth meant to swallow me whole.
Predictable.
A flick of my wrist - fire erupts anew. A colossal, clawed hand of blackened flame materializes from under me, slamming into Henward mid-motion. The force is devastating. His form is thrown back, crashing into the wall with a sickening crack.
The fire is different this time.
It's poison.
It clings. It devours. It eats into his very essence. His body spasms, flesh writhing and splitting apart, mouths gasping in silent screams.
But he is still not finished.
The ground trembles beneath me. I recognize the ploy in an instant.
I move upwards.
Just as a spear-like appendage erupts from below, I twist mid-air, Fireseal gripped tight. The blade swings in a blazing arc, flames roaring toward the grotesque, mask-like core at the center of his body.
Desperation seizes him. His flesh ruptures, birthing a swarm of deformed insects, their ragged wings buzzing in a last-ditch defense.
They never reach me. The fire does.
Fireseal strikes true, and the world is swallowed in an eruption of poisonous black flames.
Henward is thrown back, his form spasming violently, barely holding together. Smoke curls from his broken husk, his voice now little more than a pitiful, fractured whisper.
"Ugh... augh... oogh... Az...! zure...! I ne... this..."
Pathetic.
"Sorry, Henward," I murmur, voice devoid of anger, only quiet finality. "You lost yourself a long time ago."
I raise Fireseal for the last strike.
And then-
"Stop!"
A voice pierces the tension, and before I can bring my blade down, someone steps between us.
A woman.
Tall. Striking purple eyes behind black-rimmed glasses. Long black hair, arranged with careful elegance, tied in a sideways ponytail - adorned with a single panda hairpiece. She wears a crimson and gold dress, open at the chest, revealing a black bra.
My grip tightens. I know her.
"...Sellen?" My voice barely conceals my shock.
My sister.
"You're in the way. Move aside - he's dangerous!"
"I can't, big brother," she says, forcing a weak smile, though her determination is clear. "Let me handle this. Please... don't kill him."
I hold my stance. Silence lingers.
Then, I let out a slow, audible sigh and, reluctantly, I lower Fireseal.
"This feeling... What's going on, Sellen? Why the hell are you here?"
Sellen flinched, but only for a moment before plastering on her usual confident grin. "W-well, you know me, big brother... I couldn't just let you kill someone in such a sorry state, not right in front of me! I have a reputation to uphold, and, well, I wouldn't be much of a doctor if I didn't try to treat someone in so much pain, would I?" Her voice picked up speed, fueled by nervous excitement. "Just imagine the possibilities - the medicines I could develop from whatever he's become! So... please..."
As firm as she was in her argument, her final plea wavered - less a doctor's declaration, more a younger sister who knew exactly how to tug at her brother's resolve.
I exhaled sharply, fingers tightening around Fireseal's hilt before I slowly sheathed the blade.
"Do you even know what he did?" My voice came out lower than intended, weighed with something heavier than anger. "If you do, then you must also understand - it's already too late for him."
"I know," Sellen insisted, her usual playfulness momentarily absent. "But I also know that by studying him, I might be able to prevent others from ending up like this."
My jaw tightened. "Gods, do you even realize how many people have gotten tangled in the Boundary like this?" I ran a hand through my hair, trying to shake off the frustration.
Sellen huffed, crossing her arms. "Oh, please. You always act like I don't know what I'm doing, but you always manage to make a good argument too, big brother. You're stubborn, I'm stubborn - let's not act surprised here." Then, softer, "But I also know you weren't really in the mood to kill him, were you?"
Damn her. She was right.
I sighed, shaking my head. "Fine. Do whatever you want."
The way her eyes lit up sent a small pang through my chest.
"Thank you so much, big brother!" she chirped, relief washing over her features before something else flickered in her expression. "Wait... when did you even get to Suzou? You should at least let me know when you're visiting."
A small, guilty chuckle escaped me. "Oh... Well, Sellen, I'm not exactly here on vacation. There's something I need to take care of. Something important." I hesitated, then sighed. "Sorry I didn't tell you."
"It's fine, big brother." She laughed softly, shaking her head. "That's so like you. Always trying to justify yourself. I've known you long enough to tell that whatever it is, it must be serious." Then, with a teasing lilt, "Just don't forget to visit my clinic at some point, alright?"
"Heh, nothing escapes you, huh, little sis? Alright. Once I'm done, I'll stop by." I allowed a genuine smile to slip through. "I want to see if your cooking has improved."
Sellen grinned. "Of course! You'll regret ever doubting me."
I smirked, shaking my head. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't do anything reckless."
Sellen tilted her head playfully. "Reckless? Me? Perish the thought."
I cast one last glance at Henward - or whatever was left of him. His body twitched, his corrupted form barely maintaining coherence as smoke faintly billows from the red-black mud. He was clinging to existence in a way that made my skin crawl, a grotesque display of what happens when someone loses to the Boundary.
I didn't trust this decision. I didn't trust that Henward could be saved.
But I trusted Sellen.
So I turned, stepping toward the tunnels leading to the higher districts of Suzou, my mission still pressing ahead of me.
"Don't forget to visit when you're done, big brother!" Sellen called after me, her voice light, teasing. "I'll even make tea!"
A chuckle escaped before I could stop it. "I'll hold you to that."
And with that, I disappeared into the shadows, heading for the Cathedral.
But even as I walked, my mind wouldn't settle.
Whatever Sellen planned to do with Henward, I had no intention of sticking around to see the results. I just hoped she wouldn't be too rough on him - she had a habit of being... particular with her patients. Not that I needed to worry. Sellen is smart. Strong. If he tried anything, she'd handle it.
Still... she was wrong about one thing.
...I don't know if I'll be able to visit after doing what I have to do.
(... ... ...)