Ch 22: The Observer’s Stand and The Locked Girl

As Grey and Alastor are about to seal the deal, the Observers arrive led by Archon to put a stop to it. Almost all the familiar faces are present, but who is the young woman reading absentmindedly?

            Staring Alastor down a moment, Grey finally turned his gaze away and heaved a sigh as he said, “Yeah fine, let’s do it.” Turning to Grey hesitantly as he and Alastor rose from their chairs, Amy whispered, “Grey, are you really sure about this?!” Showing a confident grin, Grey simply replied, “Yeah, I suggested it right? Nothing’s over until he get’s Deus Amictus, so there’s no big issues to using this as a bargaining chip.” Having all been overseeing things quietly, Alastor’s minions were beginning to murmur amongst themselves now that something new was happening. Dreck, confused as to exactly what Alastor was bargaining for, asked his fellow cohorts, “Just what does he mean there’s no real loss for them in breaking this Master Seal? Wasn’t this something they’ve been guarding this whole time?” Slightly at a loss as well, Ferid replied, “That’s what I thought I’d heard as well, something about some form of power that can be obtained by breaking all these seals. I also think this was supposed to be the last one.” Also slightly perplexed by Grey’s lack of concern over the Master Seal, Alastor said, “Not to complain, but you are fully aware of just what you’ve agreed to? You’re practically handing me the last bit of the Nameless One’s sealed power, a portion I’ll have you know is quite substantial.” Shrugging his shoulders, Grey smirked and said, “I’m not too worried, and beating you wouldn’t really mean anything to me unless I beat you at your best. You’re not about to let me go back on my deal even if I were clueless, or give me those three days if I back out, so unless there’s some reason you’re not interested anymore…” Narrowing his eyes almost as though he were still struggling to figure out the catch, Alastor at last looked over at Scathe as he said, “Not at all… Scathe, could you fetch the list of incantations? I’m afraid I haven’t prepared at all, given what little warning I had.”

            Nodding obediently, Scathe walked over to a curtain at the back of the room and passed through to another room beyond it, which from what little Grey caught a glimpse of when he’d opened the curtain seemed to be some form of storeroom. A few minutes later, he emerged with an old looking scroll that he presented to Alastor before rejoining the ranks. As he unfurled the scroll and started looking it over, Amy distracted herself with a bit of curiosity as she asked, “Um, so where is the Master Seal anyways?” Looking up from his scroll, Alastor replied, “I’m afraid you’re under the wrong impression Ms. Grant. The Master Seal is not like the other seals, which were tied to pieces of land. So far I’ve been adding together fragments of the core essence along with a fair amount of excess, making my piece quite powerful. However, all pieces that are released are still under the Master Seal, so if I want to gain the full power of the essence I possess, I must break all the other seals along with that final seal upon the essence itself. Now that the other seals are dealt with, I can break it whenever I want as long as the rest of the conditions are met.” Finished memorizing the incantation from the scroll, Alastor raised his hand before him, and spreading out from his hand as he channeled EDE briefly, black glowing lines traced five complex and majestic rune circles in the air around him. Gesturing to the rune circles, he simply said, “There. If you would, Mr. Greyson?” At that moment though, the halls of Noctivagus shook with the sound of an explosion.

            Turning to look back at the door, Grey muttered, “They’re gonna show up after all, huh?” Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Alastor said, “They’ve been steadily making their way through the anomalies I’ve had guarding the halls for a while now, but it seems they must have detected the seal and realized they were running out of time. I won’t finish the incantation in time…” Moving to surround the door in her Master’s place as all Alastor’s other allies did the same, Rend exclaimed, “What, we were expecting company?! Who the hell could get through the dark veil around this place?! I heard an entire airship fleet couldn’t even touch it!” Remembering what Grey had said earlier, Amy glanced at him and asked, “The Observers?” With a slight sigh, Grey nodded as he replied, “Yeah, and I’ll bet they’re pretty pissed…”

            Grey quickly pulled Amy to the side, getting her to safety while everyone else avoided as the doors of the room were blown off their hinges, Toshley sending them flying with twin Gearshift Punches from his ExoTosh powersuit. The doors gone, a somewhat small contingent of Observers were revealed to be standing there. Standing lead over them was Archon, his staff in hand and a stern expression upon his blindfolded face. As well as Toshley, Tepes was also present, not within her own realm but standing there alongside her fellow Observers. There was also one other Observer, whom Grey did not recognize. A teenage looking girl with short purple hair adorned with a purple bow and green eyes, she wore a black coat, skirt, and gloves, her legs wrapped in black ribbons and a ribbon-like cape hanging from her shoulders. She hovered just above the air rather than walking, and her clothes and ribbons seemed to float as well, making Grey wonder if the golden chains she wore around her body and ankles were somehow keeping her from flying away. Her attention seemed to be preoccupied as well, the contents of a strange book bearing some form of lock with a keyhole on the back cover seemingly more important than the fact that she had just stepped into enemy territory. As Alastor’s forces quickly regrouped and moved to repel the intruders, Archon raised his staff and various geometric shapes made out of red light appeared in the air around the doorway, shooting forth and seeking out all of the enemies before them, then exploding to release the chaotic forces trapped within. Watching Rend and his fellow minions be blown across the room only to lie there completely incapacitated by the chaotic energies, Ferid quickly retreated to hide a good distance behind Alastor, who along with Grey and Amy merely stood and waited as Archon and the other three Observers at his command slowly approached them.

            Managing a smile, Grey gave a brief wave and said, “Hey guys. Sorry for making you go to all this trouble, but I’ve already made up my mind.” Turning his head as though to look at him, Archon curtly said, “Then you’ll change that mind of yours one way or another. I’m not about to see Malum Vanitas or anyone who seeks to use his power against our world break the final seal holding back the darkness.” Flashing a faint smile, Alastor said, “My, such words from one who belongs to a race that has long held itself above this world and all its troubles. Are you honestly so sure of your superiority that you thought a measly band of four could stand in my way?” Clenching his staff a moment, Archon turned to face Alastor now as he replied, “No, I’m quite sure this is nowhere near the number we’d need to oppose you. However, even in this dark hour for my people, as the few among us who were directly involved in this, we decided it was our duty to at least try.” Confused by his words, Amy quickly asked, “Dark hour? What do you mean Archon? Did something happen?”

            A grim expression on his face, Toshley spoke up, saying, “During the past hour, Malum has already slain a number of our fellow Observers. As a former Observer himself, he is capable of drawing the power from another Observer whose state is greatly weaker than his. Normally we work together as a group to overpower the state of an Observer whose powers are to be stripped, but he merely drains them in the moments after death. We’re unsure how he’s tracking us down to begin with. Even with his ability to sneak up on us with dark vortexes, he shouldn’t be able to locate us so quickly…” Unsettled by this information, Grey looked to Alastor as he said, “Hey, he’s not thinking that since he can’t steal the Nameless One’s essence back, he can just go and make himself into a whole new one, is he?!” Meeting Grey’s gaze calmly, Alastor replied, “It’s quite possible that’s his intention, although I cannot say if he’ll succeed.” Turning to glance at the Observers, he added, “If that’s what’s going on though, you all would be much better off going into hiding than picking a fight with me. Make good use of the Observer of Mysteries there and hide yourselves away in some dark hole.”

            A spark of anger flashing in her silver eye, Tepes smiled darkly at Alastor and said, “You’re truly a foolish man, Alastor Bastille… You’re the very reason Malum was set free to begin with, which I might add has led to me having to go so far as to step outside my realm for the first time in centuries today, a day which I could have spent relaxing with a nice nap. Now I come all this way, only to have you mock me as well?” Black cracks opening in the air all around her, as her fellow Observers nervously moved out of the way, Tepes raised a hand at Alastor as she said, “Allow me to show you what happens when I leave my realm!” The black cracks opening to reveal her realm beyond, dozens of incredibly long, reaching arms that seemed to be made of some form of dark energy came stretching out from within, twisting and writhing in the air like some form of tentacles. Rapidly they extended out at Alastor, the grasping hands at the ends of the arms seeming to try and take hold of anything within their reach, and though he managed to form Acerbitas Desiderium, he was unable to even raise it once in his defense before he was caught in the hold of Tepes’ dark arms. Grey moved to aid him, but jumping into his path, Toshley and Archon blocked his way as Toshley said, “Just stand down Grey. This must be done.” Gritting his teeth in frustration, Grey thought, “If I don’t keep this under control, we’ll just end up having more Observers get killed…” The dark arms quickly drawing Alastor back towards Tepes’ realm, the holes in space suddenly widened and merged as sharp jagged teeth emerged all around the edges of the new enormous opening, the entrance to Tepes’ realm now seeming like the maw of some great monster. Now standing to the side where she watched him about to be eaten alive, Tepes grinned vindictively as she called out, “Delve too deeply into the mysteries of the world, and you’ll surely be devoured by the unknown!”

            Leaping out of the floor to his master’s aid, Shadow brought forth Blood King and sliced apart the dark arms drawing Alastor into the maw of Tepes’ realm with a single swing. As he began to fall to the floor, still bound by the numerous hands of darkness the clung to him relentlessly, Grey saw a red glint in Alastor’s eyes as they shifted in Tepes’ direction, and a storm of wind erupted around Alastor just as Grey cried out his warning. Blades of wind quickly slicing apart all the hands that had been holding onto him, Alastor activated his Haste ability and shot out of the windstorm at Tepes as a blur of speed, and Tepes barely drew the silver sword at her waist from it’s sheath in time to raise it in defense as he struck out with his wicked scythe. His powerful blow overpowered her guard though, and Tepes went sailing into the wall, striking it hard and losing hold of her blade before bouncing off of it to land face down on the floor. Archon and Toshley stopped holding Grey back at this point and moved to aid Tepes, parts separating from the back of Toshley’s powersuit and forming into a pair of attack satellites that fired lasers at Alastor.

            Hovering quickly to his master’s defense, Shadow levitated Blood King in the air in front of them both and used Repel to deflect the lasers before combining with Alastor to grant him his merged form. Turning in their direction as they rushed at him, Alastor swung his scythe and met the large geometrical energy bolt Archon fired at him with a dark energy wave. The wave tore through the energy field and the chaotic energies within were released in a great blast, and as he and Toshley were about to rush through the aftermath at Alastor, Archon suddenly sensed that something had disrupted the very order of his plan of attack. Fearing they must regroup or meet with danger, Archon quickly stopped and called out, “Toshley, wait! I sense something is amiss!” It was not enough though, for even though they both had ground to a halt, the dark lines had already traced their way across the floor from where Alastor’s scythe blade rested against it. Forming a dark rune circle around them, Alastor halted their advance easily as he said, “Dark Gravity Zone.” As they struggled there in a newly formed field of intensified gravity, Alastor merely eyed them blankly and said, “If this is how complacent your kind has become over the past few millennia, I feel certain not even your entire race working together would pose a threat to me…”

            The sound of a book snapping shut suddenly echoed through the room, and Alastor turned to look back towards the door to where the young female Observer still hovered in the same place. Looking somewhat irritated, she fixed her gaze on Alastor and said in a rather dull voice, “Ugh… I can ignore all this racket, but you could really do without the attitude. Beasts like you really ought to remember their place and save me the trouble of having to remind them.” Staring back at her a moment, Alastor replied, “I was under the assumption you all came here in order to put me in my place to begin with… Although judging by the state of your allies, I would say you missed any chance of accomplishing that…” Seeming genuinely confused, the female Observer looked around a moment as she suddenly noticed her surroundings, and laying eyes on Archon and Toshley trapped in the Dark Gravity Zone, she simply turned away in disgust as she muttered, “Oh, for the love of…” Then noticing Tepes lying in defeat, her face seemed to turn pale and she quickly floated over to her as she animatedly exclaimed, “Oh no! Lady Tepes, are you alright?! Hold on!” Watching her fret over Tepes from where she stood, Amy thought to herself, “I guess it’s not like I know their relationship and all, but she sure didn’t seem very concerned for Archon or Toshley…”

            Walking up to Alastor, Grey made a calming gesture as he said, “Hey Alastor, let them off this time. You’ve already won, right? I wanted to bring the Observers in on the ceasefire as well, so let’s just break the Master Seal and I’ll get them out of your hair.” Glancing at Grey, Alastor replied, “I suppose I do have more pressing matters, but I’m not the type to let an offense go unpunished.” Raising a hand at Tepes and the female Observer before he could argue further, Alastor said, “Vortex Annihilation.” Looking up from Tepes as dark vortexes surrounded them completely from above and from all sides, the female Observer donned a stern look as she held out her strange book, opening it as she said, “Cipher Lock: Wasted Words!” A key of yellow energy forming in the lock on the back cover of the book as she spoke, it turned with a loud click, and yellow streaks of energy quickly flew off the pages of the book and into the air. Stopping in the air and gathering together into lines that pieced together a pyramid shape around the female Observer and Tepes, the streaks were revealed to have been the various letters from the pages in energy form, and as beams of Corrupted EDE burst forth from all of the vortexes, the pyramid of letters radiated a blinding yellow light. As the light washed over Alastor’s incoming attack, the beams and the vortexes all disintegrated into more letters of yellow energy, and raising up her free hand the female Observer drew them all into her hand and absorbed them. Once she’d absorbed it all, she quickly slapped her hand onto the page of her book and said, “Cipher Lock: Stolen Words!” The key turned again, and as she was shrouded in a glowing aura of power, the female Observer raised her hand at Alastor. Yellow vortexes now surrounding Alastor and Grey from all sides, large keys attached to the ends of long chains shot out from each vortex, all made of yellow energy, and Grey barely managed to step aside as several grazed past him, all of the keychains winding through the air and firmly binding a surprised Alastor in place.

            With little room to move around himself, Grey watched Alastor struggle to free himself as he thought, “That was pretty good, but it’s still not nearly enough against Alastor, right?” Noticing Grey’s gaze, Alastor finally stopped struggling and said, “You’d better not be thinking I’m beaten just yet Mr. Greyson. I never wanted to risk using this while the Master Seal persisted, but now that it’s come to this, take a good look at the true form of my power. The power of someone with a will that defies all limitations.” Returning Acerbitas Desiderium to a mass of EDE, a powerful aura of darkness erupted around Alastor as it took a new shape, his power beginning to overflow and take form as a visible cloud of darkness that quickly obscured him. Grey watched in disbelief, vividly reminded of his Level 3 Void Energy, and his eyes widened in further surprise as he glimpsed glowing red eyes and glinting jagged teeth lurking within it. Then the living cloud of dark power lashed out suddenly as more than a dozen razor sharp tentacles of darkness, shredding the chains binding Alastor to pieces as Alastor’s voice called out, “Tremble before my Vague Being…”

            The chains destroyed, Alastor’s darkness retracted in briefly, then spread outward and curved across the ground to come at the female Observer from both sides, rising up as multiple pointed black protrusions that stopped just short of her but left her nowhere to escape to. Emerging from the darkness with part of it continuing to cling to him like a shroud, Alastor reached the female Observer in a flash and grabbed her by the collar, now holding a large black sword with a cleaver-like blade and a long handle. Raising the blade to the female Observer’s neck, Alastor said, “After summoning my Vagum Ens for a mere Observer, I suppose I at least owe you the courtesy of asking your name.” Making a defiantly uninterested face, the female Observer replied, “What a pathetic excuse… I’m Letanya, the Locked Girl, also known as the Observer of Knowledge. You have quite a few tricks for a beast, but my Override Keychains will be even harder to escape next time.” Showing a faint smile, Alastor said, “As I thought, I’ve heard about you. Those chains can disable an enemy’s abilities by replacing the knowledge behind them with useless trivia, but only for abilities you are actually aware of. Considering you weren’t even paying attention earlier, I assume you disabled my wind affinity by absorbing the data about our little skirmish earlier from the Observer of Mysteries there.”

            His arm tensing as he prepared to finish her, Alastor said, “As much as I applaud you for making up for your allies’ poor showing earlier, I’ve no room for error so long as I’ve summoned this. I’ll be ending this now.” Letanya glanced nervously at the darkness still surrounding her with a grimace, but Grey suddenly stepped forward, raising his hand with the rune circle upon it and changing it to a white color as he said, “Phoenix Mantle.” Flames bursting forth from the phoenix stone around his neck, they wrapped around Grey’s body and turned a blinding white, and Alastor turned his gaze away from Letanya to watch as he emerged from the flames wearing a long white coat with black trim like the one he donned when using Deus Amictus. He also now wore long white metallic gauntlets, dark grey pants, and dark gray boots. The phoenix stone hung around his neck still, glowing faintly and having somehow been recut so that the gem now was in the shape of a bird. Everyone staring in surprise, Amy was in awe as she thought, “It really makes him look the part of a hero…”

            Holding his hand out to summon a mass of EDE, Grey said, “Enough Alastor. I won’t just sit around if you take this any further…” Narrowing his eyes as he stared at Grey’s new clothes, noticing his darkness seeming to almost cringe and quiver in reaction to the mass of EDE gathering in his hand, Alastor replied, “Is that really wise? I get the feeling neither of us wants these negotiations to fall through at this point…” His eyes turning silver, there was fierce determination in them as Grey said, “Just like you, I won’t let certain things slide. I hate to add another condition at this point, but our deal is off if you can’t settle this peacefully.” Lowering his weapon somewhat, Alastor glanced over at Archon as he said, “As things stand, I don’t really want to fight you after summoning Vagum Ens in this state. You have to remember though Mr. Greyson, I’m not the one who came here looking for a fight…” As Grey turned to look at Archon as well, Archon stubbornly called out, “Even if our chances are slim, we cannot allow Malum or Alastor to increase their power any further. If you want to aid us He of the Infinite, then you should come to your senses and fight alongside us. His Anima Entia may seem powerful, but his words make it clear that he cannot control it completely. This may be our only chance to preserve order…”

            “Giving in to desperation will only bring chaos old friend…” Called Eazel’s voice as he appeared from thin air in the doorway. Everyone turning to look at him in surprise, Amy could tell he seemed unwell and exclaimed, “Eazel?! What’s wrong, are you alright?!” Leaning heavily on his cane as he entered the room, Eazel said, “I’ll be fine. I merely had a bit of a disagreement with with a delightful woman who is currently the Executive Member of the Council of Fate.” Fixing his full attention on Eazel immediately, Alastor said, “You’ve been to see Lady Ziva? If you were there to complain, you’re either fearless or utterly foolish.” Chuckling a bit, Eazel said, “Yes, well… I was less than pleased when I learned she’d decided to sell us out to Malum on a whim.” Utterly shocked, Toshley exclaimed, “Ziva Ulvia Ba'alzebul?! He’s tracked us using divinations from a High Soothsayer of Mautau?! By Benton’s bolts, has this Council of Fate joined hands with him now as well?!” Turning back to Tepes now that Eazel had arrived, Letanya still hung from Alastor’s grasp as she called back, “They’re both just using each other I’m sure. I can’t say I know the woman, but manipulative socialites abound in high society, and Malum has always been the type.”

            Letting his mass of EDE evaporate, Grey turned to Eazel as he approached and asked, “It’s pretty impressive how you found all this out Eazel, but you’re not here to try and stop me too are you?” Laughing, Eazel shook his head and said, “Not at all, not at all.” Turning his belted gaze to Alastor, he added, “I’m merely here to offer our apologies, as well as express the desire of the Observers to be included in the three day ceasefire.” Struggling within the Dark Gravity Zone, Archon called out, “What is the meaning of this Eazel?! We’re already few enough in number, but if Malum continues to gain power, we’ll be hunted to extinction! Releasing the Master seal is not an option!” Moving around Alastor and Grey to confront Archon, Eazel replied, “We only have ourselves to blame for being out of options. I entrusted you with our people’s future several millennia ago, and with my backing you were able to enstate rules that kept we Observers from repeating the mistakes of the past. Your fear of failing to uphold order however, was our undoing. You developed your mind’s eye and began enforcing stricter rules at your own discretion, eventually pushing us into seclusion. The power you gained with my help also allowed you to gather support even greater than mine, and yet even after taking such an all important position, you chose to hold the status quo rather than act at the appropriate time. That is why we are where we are now.”

            Gritting his teeth angrily a moment, Archon exclaimed, “You dare to criticize me for my inaction?! Whatever past opportunities have been missed, I am the one trying to stop the Master Seal from being broken, while you’re the one asking me to sit by and do nothing!” Sternly, Eazel replied, “I came to stop you from acting at an inappropriate time in a feeble attempt to correct your own mistakes! Whether it would save our race or not, our entire world now hangs by a thread. I’d hoped you would see the folly of trying to interfere here, but even if you continue to be stubborn, I will not allow you to get in Grey’s way. He holds a destiny far greater than ours.” Seeming to glare at Grey a moment, Archon thought back to Fox’s words aboard the Audentia and scowled as he muttered, “Regardless of how much confidence you speak with, words do little to convince me to put all my faith in any one mortal.”

            From where she hung by her shirt collar in Alastor’s grip, Letanya eyed the rune circle on Grey’s hand a moment, and then closed her eyes with a sigh as she said, “Well you should most certainly heed my words Archon. That boy is not merely a mortal any longer if he can contain the Seventh Seal within his own body. I’d bet on him over any of us at this point…” Adding his own two cents, Toshley said, “The boy is truly a remarkable individual on his own as well Archon. He’s not to be underestimated.” Shaking his head in exasperation, Archon said, “Fine, be that way. We’re all obviously not even on the same page anymore, so if we’re given the option, we may as well withdraw.” Letting his living aura and Dark Gravity Field vanish, Alastor’s Vagum Ens evaporated as well and he released Letanya as he said, “Good, it’s settled. I’ll forgive this incident and include the Observers in the ceasefire, now hurry up and leave.” As Toshley and Eazel hurried over to help Tepes, Letanya looked at Tepes with momentary concern as they both began to work out how to carry her, and then turned back to Alastor as she said, “About that, would it be too shameless to ask if I can stick around? It’s not an event you can witness every day, and besides…” Glancing over at Amy suddenly, who noticed her gaze and wondered what it was about, Letanya added, “There’s something else that’s caught my eye as well.” Clearly a bit suspicious, Alastor was nevertheless too intent on finishing things up to waste time arguing, and he merely distanced himself from her a bit as he said, “Fine, but if you even get near me, I’ll assume you’re trying to garner data from me and I’ll kill you no matter what anyone says.” Looking disgusted, Letanya replied, “You really can flatter yourself, suggesting that I’d ever want to touch a beast like you…”