by Brandon Chen
“Are you sure?” Yuu asked. “He’s got magic. He isn’t just an ordinary….”
“I know,” Tetsu said with a smile. “I’ll handle it. You know, Yuu, you’re a lot different than I remember. Though I can’t quite place why. Maybe it’s the lack of wimpiness.”
“Oh shut up,” Yuu murmured with a snicker. “Just don’t get yourself killed. Aleysha, let’s take care of these guys.”
Aleysha nodded and clapped Tetsu on the back and shot her brother a wink as she unsheathed her sword. “We’ll save Kira. Give this guy hell.” She turned her head to Fang. “Fang, get rid of the rest of these soldiers, will you?”
Fang nodded his head and bared his fangs as he pounced into the army of soldiers, his claws shredding through dozens of warriors at a time with ease. Their screams of anguish echoed through the plaza.
Bator watched as Yuu and Aleysha rushed past him and engaged the two Magi that were holding Kira. He was clutching the stub of his arm, shocked by the fact he had just lost his hand. The Persian Magus glared angrily at Aleysha and Yuu, rage coursing through his veins. “You wretched mongrels! I’ll eviscerate all of you!” he screamed, snatching his dagger off the ground with his other hand as he turned to help his fellow Magi.
“Looks like I can call you one-handed Bator instead of cyclops now, huh?” Tetsu called, halting Bator in his tracks. The Magus whipped around and glared at the mercenary, squeezing the hilt of his weapon. Tetsu whirled his scimitar and pointed it at his opponent, his gaze resolute with hatred. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done to Ramses, I swear by that.”
Final Words
Aleysha felt sweat rushing down her face as she engaged the two Magi that were holding Kira. The mages dropped Kira in unison and leapt away, scattering in opposite directions. Clearly this was a tactic to try and split Yuu and Aleysha up. The two looked at each other.
“Just hold your guy off. I’ll handle my opponent and come over to help you as soon as I can,” Yuu promised and quickly rushed to the left to battle his Magus.
Aleysha’s eyes flitted to Kira, who was lying on the ground, unmoving. Was she unconscious or dead? Her heart raced as she realized that flying straight at her face was a surge of roaring flames. She raised her shield, which dispersed the fire as soon as it touched the orange metal. The girl whirled her sword, peeking over her shield to observe her opponent.
The enemy Persian Magus was a woman with long, red hair, the color of a tomato. She wore very loose red silks the same color as her hair. The clothing curled around her breasts and her lower body, exposing her shoulders, stomach, and knees. Like Kira, she didn’t wear shoes. Two expensive ruby earrings dangled from each lobe and she wielded a skinny long sword. Her lips pursed together, covered by a thick layer of rosy red lipstick. “My, my. What have we here? A female warrior with no magic coming to challenge me?” The Magus smirked until she locked her dark eyes onto Aleysha’s shield. “But you have a Sacred Treasure. Ra’s Shield, I’d recognize a prized possession like that anywhere. Where did a damsel such as you manage to pick up such a rarity?”
“Doesn’t matter to you, does it?” Aleysha retorted, lunging outward. She slashed downward but the Magus easily maneuvered away, stumbling backward.
“Oh well,” the Persian Magus said, pointing the tip of her sword at Aleysha. “I suppose I’ll just pry it from your corpse then. Spoils of war and all that. Goodbye, wench.” The tip of her blade coruscated bright red as flames began to burn on the metal of her sword. Suddenly, a beam of concentrated fire shot as fast as an arrow from the tip of her sword, piercing the air towards Aleysha.
Aleysha reacted instantly, raising her shield into the air. The beam gently smacked into her shield, thumping as lightly as a pebble. Upon impact, the beam expanded into a wall of fire that smashed against her. But Aleysha kept her head down, perspiration streaking down her face from the astounding heat that radiated from the flames. Despite the incredible attack, the magical fire was not able to penetrate Aleysha’s shield.
The female mage raised her eyebrows in surprise, impressed that Aleysha had survived. But the fact that Ra’s Shield managed to absorb all of that magical power without even a scratch was even more incredible. Instead, the shield glowed as if it were getting stronger. “Not bad,” she said and then slashed her sword left and right. Flames shot from her blade and rushed at Aleysha from both right and left sides. “But you can’t block both!”
Aleysha swung her shield to the left side and smashed it against the flames just as another beam of concentrated fire was about to strike her from the other side. The moment the fire struck her shield, it expanded into a wall of roaring flames just like before. Her eyes flickered to the right, seeing that the other flames were still approaching. She grunted, pulling her shield around to her right before the wall of flame subsided. A cold sensation rushed through her arm and she winced as she smashed her shield against the second attack coming from her right. The fire on the left licked at her arm, eating away at her skin for a moment before vanishing.
The Persian Magus stared incredulously as her fires died out and she smirked, intrigued by Aleysha’s tactic. She had endured a small percentage of the fire in order to fend off both attacks. This woman did not fear pain. The mage reached out and touched her red tattoo of a snake, inscribed into the top of her breast. “You’re gutsy! I like that.” She extended her hand outward. “It’s a shame I have to kill you, isn’t it? Oh well, turn to ash.”
A surge of snarling fire howled as it launched forward from the Persian Magus’s fingertips, smashing into Aleysha. The fire, however, didn’t strike Aleysha as the mage expected it to. Instead, it swirled around the girl, creating a vortex of fire that spiraled upwards towards the very heavens in a brilliant display. The mage stared at her rogue flames, perplexed. “What’s going on?” she demanded. The Magus stared into Aleysha’s eyes and suddenly her eyes widened.
Aleysha’s pupils had transformed to tiny slits, like that of a hawk, while her irises had turned from blue to a bright orange. It was almost as if her eyes were glowing. Aleysha held out her shield, which glowed as brightly as the sun, filling the plaza with its dazzling light.
Yuu and his opponent paused in their battle and turned to look at Aleysha, who was vibrating the ground with her arcane power. The noble stared at Aleysha. He hadn’t realized that she was this powerful. Originally, he had sensed no magic from her. But now, he could feel it. Magic equivalent to a god.
“W-What are you?” the Persian fire-mage choked out, her eyes wide with terror as she took several steps backward. A glowing symbol of a sun disk materialized above Aleysha, shining as brightly as the sun. The Magus winced. “Ra? It can’t be…!”
Ramses turned his head, cracking open an eye weakly as he looked at Aleysha. A weary smile split across his face before he closed his eyes.
“I’m not Ra,” Aleysha declared, holding her shield out before her. She’d never used this much power at once but she knew that without this strength, she’d never be able to defeat this Magus. “He’s my father.” She held her shield up to the sky, the ground rumbling beneath her feet. “Looks like you’re the one turning to ash.”
There was a loud boom that echoed as a beam of light tore from the heavens and smashed into the plaza, obliterating the ground where the Persian fire-mage stood. The earth exploded and dirt flew in all directions. Nearby buildings collapsed from the massive shockwave that rippled outward.
Aleysha found herself surrounded in dust and she suddenly felt sapped of energy, collapsing to her knees, gasping for breath. She looked around and saw that the entire Persian force that had been around them was now reduced to nothing. A majority of the soldiers were lying on the ground unconscious while some were crushed underneath the debris of fallen buildings. She turned and saw Yuu approaching her. Aleysha saw that Yuu’s opponent had also been knocked unconscious by the shockwave. “Sorry about that,” Aleysha panted. “I probably should’ve held back a little more.”
“
No, you did good,” Yuu said, kneeling down beside Aleysha. He looked at the nasty burn wound that wrapped around her left arm. “Does it hurt?”
Aleysha shook her head. “No, it’s just a little tender. Ow!” She screeched when Yuu wrapped a bandage around the burn. The mercenary winced and sighed. “Thanks.”
“So, daughter of Ra, huh?”
“Oh, shut up. I don’t like to tell people about that.”
“Huh. I figured that you were the daughter of some lesser god when Ahriman pointed you out as a demigod. But daughter of Ra, now that’s really something. Legend has it that this entire continent was created by him. No one knows if that’s actually true, though,” Yuu said as he stood up, extending his hand to Aleysha with a weary smile. “Alright, we need to go check on your friends. Then we’ll go and help Tetsu.”
***
Tetsu lay on the ground in a complete daze after the explosion. The plaza had practically been reduced to ruin from the stunt that Aleysha pulled. Her opponent must’ve really been strong if she’d used her demigod powers. He groaned, a headache pounding in his head as he slowly leaned forward. Tetsu hadn’t really been winning his fight. Actually, if anything he was getting his butt handed to him. Bator’s speed was just too much for Tetsu to handle. As a result, he was covered in cuts and bruises. He managed to avoid any serious wounds but at the rate that things were going, eventually Bator would land a fatal blow.
The Hayashi clansman rolled over onto his hands and knees, groaning. Pain erupted through his back and his shoulders. His face was caked in dirt mixed with blood and the metal cuffs that were still clamped to his wrists were biting into his chaffed skin. Tetsu turned and saw that Bator was already stumbling to his feet, barely conscious. “Why don’t you ever just stay down?” Tetsu complained, his arms trembling as he pushed himself to his feet. Gods, his muscles were aching.
“Shut up, only the weak stay in the dirt,” Bator gnarred, spitting blood onto the ground as he twirled his dagger in his hand. “The strong will always emerge from the battle victorious, no matter what the obstacle.”
“Keep telling yourself that, princess,” Tetsu said and bolted forward at Bator, but the Magus moved with lightning speed and struck Tetsu straight in the jaw. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as Tetsu’s head snapped back abruptly and he slammed hard onto his aching back, the wind knocked clean from his lungs. The man rolled onto his side, coughing painfully. This really isn’t working out.
Bator panted, also out of breath. His face was pale and he shuddered, staring at the stump where his hand had been. It was hemorrhaging blood now and it sure didn’t look like it was going to stop soon. “I’m going to make you and all your friends regret what they’ve done to me, I swear!”
“Yeah, yeah….” Tetsu groaned, spitting out the metallic taste of blood as he got onto his hands and knees, prepared to get up. There was no way that he could beat Bator by fighting him fairly. Charging him head-on in a fight would result in defeat. “Whatever helps you sleep, cyclops.”
“SHUT YOUR MONGREL MOUTH!” Bator boomed, swinging a hard kick at Tetsu’s ribs.
Tetsu acted accordingly, grabbing Bator by his ankle and yanking hard. The Magus was pulled downward, unable to use his magic while he fell. Tetsu cracked a smile, snatching his sword off the ground with his opposite hand. “Looks like you fell into a trap, Bator,” He ripped his blade upward and jammed it straight into Bator’s stomach, tearing the weapon straight out the Magus’s back. “That was for Ramses,” Tetsu growled into Bator’s ear, tearing his sword from the body of the dying mage. He allowed Bator to collapse at his side, his heart racing.
Wiping sweat from his brow, Tetsu turned and looked at the obliterated plaza and the countless number of unmoving Persian bodies that lay broken and unconscious on the ground of District Four. How many people had died today? How many more would need to die before Cambyses’s reign was finally brought to an end? Tetsu released his sword, letting the bloody weapon clatter to the ground beside Bator’s corpse. His hand was shaking, a tingling sensation that felt like needles were pricking into his flesh spiked through his palm. We still need to deal with Ahriman. That’s going to be a problem.
Tetsu walked back to the center of the plaza where he saw Yuu and Aleysha tending to Ramses. Kira was awake, her face slightly bruised and cut. But she was okay. Meanwhile, it looked like Ramses was just barely clinging onto life. He was gasping and blood was pouring from the wound in his back.
“He’s lost too much blood,” Kira said quietly.
Tetsu stopped beside Ramses and knelt down beside the Magus. He bit his lower lip in frustration at the sight of the dying mage. “This is my fault. You guys came to save me. And now….”
“Don’t blame yourself, idiot,” Ramses said with a scoff. “This was because I was careless and let that one-eyed Magus beat me. Tetsu,” he said, “you’re a good guy, you know. I judged you back then when you tried to save those slaves. But I want you to know that what you’re doing is the right thing. Protect your friends, save them. Make sure that they all get out of this mess in one piece, alright?”
Tetsu hardened his expression, trying not to show how distraught he was. He bit his lower lip, holding back the tears that wanted to stream down his cheeks. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Ramses, for everything.”
“Make sure my family is safe, alright?” Ramses said with a strained smile. “And tell little Riza that I’m sorry. Having to grow up without a father … I know firsthand what that was like. I … was hoping that I would live long enough to be there for him. But….” Tears began to slowly creep down his cheeks and his lips trembled. He leaned his head back and his eyes fixed on the clear sky, his hands going limp at his side. His eyes never closed.
A shadow loomed over Tetsu’s face and he slowly stood up, reaching up and running his hand slowly through his black spiky hair. “Sacrifices are a part of war,” Tetsu said, “and I absolutely hate that.”
Aleysha wiped some tears from her eyes. “What do we do now?”
“I need to check on Ramses’ family to make sure they’re okay,” Kira said. “And … let them know the news.” She gave her staff a tight squeeze, looking to Fang. “I’ll take this fella with me.”
Fang panted with excitement.
Tetsu nodded. “Yuu, Aleysha, and I will go and find Cambyses and put an end to his reign,” he said, turning to Aleysha. “Is Ares here?”
“Yeah, he’s fighting Ahriman I believe. He sent us here to help you out,” Aleysha said.
“Then after we deal with Cambyses, we’ll head after Ahriman,” Tetsu said, ignoring the pangs of pain that screamed from the dozens of wounds and cuts that covered his body. “But first, I have a few words I want to say to the king of Persia.”
***
Ares walked on the flat rooftop of one of the large clay buildings that overlooked the rest of the city. He could see that Alkaios’s forces were shoveling themselves through the opening in Persepolis’s wall and were beginning their incursion on the city. He could also see waves of Persian soldiers flooding through the streets, converging on Alkaios’s men. The god turned his head and saw that the civilians were fleeing to the western side of the city, probably escaping through the western entrance of Persepolis. He sighed with relief. At least a majority of the innocent civilians were getting out of the city instead of getting caught up in this brutal war.
Ares glanced up at the castle, on a hill that towered over the rest of the city. The noble section was practically destroyed. A majority of the castle was already crumbling to the ground, and dozens of odd-looking creatures were flitting around the castle grounds. Ares squinted, taking a good look at the deformities.
These undead creatures had decaying flesh and were lumbering about, their arms swaying. Their rotted yellow teeth chattered together as their bloodstained hands clawed outward at the corpses of Persian soldiers. Ghouls. Ares had read stories about the undead abominations that feasted on the dead. But what were ghouls doing in Pers
epolis? They couldn’t have come here on their own, they must’ve been summoned. Ahriman.
The god of war leapt from his spot on the rooftop, launching himself thousands of feet into the air as he soared towards the castle. He descended on the castle grounds, smashing down into the lawn with a massive explosion, creating a deep crater in the dirt. Ares brushed dust off his shoulders, and turned to find that all the ghouls had turned their attention to him. The ghouls didn’t have eyes; they only had empty sockets of blackness, and they used their sense of smell to locate their next meal. They snarled hungrily and sprinted at Ares in a frenzy, their shrill screeches piercing the god’s ears as they clawed at the air.
Ares, however, knew that ghouls were weak Guardians to summon. He snapped his fingers and his spear automatically sprang to life and darted forward, smashing through each individual undead creature. Ripping through their bodies, the weapon returned to Ares’ hand once it was finished eradicating all of the ghouls. The undead lay sprawled on the ground with giant puncture wounds in their bodies. Meanwhile, Ares began to storm towards the castle of Persepolis.
One of the walls of the castle erupted, sending bits of debris flying out into the air. Mithra burst from a cloud of dust that had formed from the explosion. The god slammed into the ground and rolled several hundred meters before he went still on the ground. He was quavering, his body clearly in pain.
Ares turned and saw Ahriman stepping through the hole in the wall, gently landing on the grass of the castle’s lawn. The god of darkness raised an eyebrow when he spotted Ares and smiled. “So you’ve come, Ares. I was beginning to think that you were still drowning in tears over the death of your best friend, a craggy rock. Pitiful, really.” He turned and spotted the dead ghouls that lay sprawled around the lawn. “You don’t see me crying over a few lost Guardians. After all, there are thousands more where they came from. I have an army at my disposal, Ares. But I don’t want to use them to bring you to your knees. I want to use my own power to make you grovel at my feet.” He twirled his scepter in his hand and pointed the tip of it at Ares. “Even Mithra didn’t stand a chance.”