Chapter XXVII: By the Hands of Fate

[1]“He who forgets will be destined to remember”

 

  A famous line from one of the bards that travels around the Known Regions with his lute. He calls himself the [1]Pearlman, but that has nothing to do with this current chapter.

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       On a rooftop sitting acute towards the setting sun, Solis was staring dimly at the peak of Mt. Madre. No coat, no vest, just a bandage wrapped around his lower body. His thoughts have slowly been recollecting what was explained to him by Osiris Luno. The amulet that was stolen from him was a key for a key. King Orion needs both amulets from him and his twin sister to open the Gate. Now that he has his hands on each half, it's only a matter of time before he merges the two and release havoc onto the world- just like your regular old villain in all those generic superhero movies. It's a good thing our main character already has a solution to the problem.

 

     He and his twin sister have the same blood running through their veins " the blood of the Exalted One, [2]Anthony Redgrave. When Elementals still had a nation, they would choose someone to hold the key to the Gate every generation. The last generation picked Anthony to be the holder, but he was tricked into opening the Gate along with Osiris and some other guy who I will talk about in latter chapters.

 

     All he has to do now is to find the others to form the key, steal the amulet, and use it to seal every single gate that was opened by every single Demon that came out. Quite a dirty job [3]collecting 60,000 evil spirits and individually locking them up one-by-one, but it's still doable since he's got a lot of allies with him; if only he wasn't hung-up on something he's long forgotten....

 

      “You stumped?”, Tenenbaum asks as she snuggles herself on his arm.

 

      “Nope.”

 

    “Are you sure?”

 

       “Yeah.”

 

       “You know we share the same conscience, right?”

 

     “Just be quiet.”

 

       At least he didn’t say “shut up”, right? It feels like this expression is being thoroughly used in this story, and the writer’s trying to think of a better way to word it.

 

     “Solis?”

 

     The door made of steel grate opens and Mea steps through, back in her usual clothes.

 

     “Mea…”, he turns his head to her.

 

     “I thought you’d be resting”, she sits next to him.

 

     “I get tired of resting pretty easily. Besides, laying on a bed is boring.”

 

     She hugs her knees and rests her cheek on it as she asks him: “So… How’ve you been, Lis-kun?”

 

   “Doing fine, Onee-chan. Just a little confused is all.”

 

     “With what?”

 

    “This.”

 

       He shows her his right hand as it glows roughly as bright as a star, enough for it to sparkle.

"Oh, and this too." He points at the bandage. "How'd I survive that anyway?"

"Oh, that? The spider fluid you ingested was actually an organic being and tried to take over your mind. When you were stabbed and your body shut-down, it thought you were dead and exited your system.You must've absorbed some of its natural ability to regenerate."

"And... does that make me immortal?", he wonders.

"What? No. The regenerative ability you've acquired would probably already be exhausted when you took such a blow."

"These circumstances are really pissing me off." He palms his face.

 

    “Same here”, she buries her forehead at the tip of her knees so as to console herself.

 

      “Really?”

 

    "Yeah", she stares off at the distance. “Hey, Lis-kun. Remember when we were kids; when we didn’t know we were like this?”

 

    She looks at him and releases the hidden blade on her right hand as it emanated with a dark, entropic aura.

 

    “Yeah, I remember. It was just you, me, and Tristan, right?”

 

      …

 

    WHO THE F*CK IS TRISTAN!

 

    “How’d we end up meeting each other anyway?”

 

     “I don’t know about you two, but I ran away from home back then… for an entire year.”

 

     “Oh, that’s right. I remember coming to that village when I was six. My parents took me there for a long vacation, a final stretch before my training... never mind.”

She pauses as soon as she feels like she's revealed too much.

 

      “Then me and Tristan saw you trying to save a cat stuck on a tree.”

 

     Mea gets relieved when Solis reacted instead of delving into her sudden pause so she brushes her hair to the side, revealing a faint, yet honest smile that is rarely seen nowadays. 

“Those were the days, huh?”

 

     “Yeah. I thought it’d never end.”

 

      “Say, you haven’t seen Tristan around, have you?” Her expression slightly changes to the topic she brought up.

He starts thinking.

 

   “Actually… the day before we met, I ran into him at the Hunting Guild outpost. He gave me a contract specifically assigned to me…”

 

      “What contract?”, her tone changes from sentimental to serious.

 

      “It says in the contract that the client, Lycomedes, knows something about my real father. All I had to do was hunt down a Volaris.”

 

“Did he say anything at all?” Now she looks more concerned.

 

“No, I greeted him but all he did was hand me the file and walk away.”

 

“Nothing?”

“Not a thing… but…”

 

“What?”

 

“I don’t know. He looked really different at that time. He said something when he walked past me but I don’t know what it meant.”

 

She leans closer to him. “Tell me.”

 

“…Tasukete… kudasai.”

 

She looks down in despair. “Chikusho…”

 

 

While those two were having a fine reconciliation, Credo was trying to make repairs on his Gunblade. It got badly damaged during the skirmish they had in the forest, and now he can't load any shells on it; otherwise it'll blow the moment he pulls the trigger. A lot of parts were scattered on the flat table. There were a few bolts, rivets, and an iron core that held a centiliter of Hydrargum lying beneath the bulb that lights up the surface. He was holding a screw in his hand, trying to figure out why the bullets don't get pushed out when the machine hammers the shell.

 

      The blade was detached along with the cartridge where the shells are loaded, and the material that makes up the sharp edge seemed to react differently when exposed. It was made by neither Humans nor Elves so it remains a mystery how the hell it came to be. Some say it was made by [4]Melynx, a small race of Humans that had cat ears and tails....

 

      Let's not talk about this. I bet the writer has a fetish for stuff like [5]Maid Cafes and [5]Neko-mimi. I'm gonna edit out that part and I'll instead talk about what Anna's doing.

 

Looks like she's in the same room. She's looking out the window with her chin resting on her hand. She's been idly staring into the horizon for quite some time now, all because she doesn't know what to talk about while Credo's busy. That sounds like a pretty cliché situation, if you ask me. It feels like this harem is patterned on [6]Nisekoi.

Their Anima were sleeping on the bed. Lina was on top of Rylai, both napping prone against each other. Why are they positioned like that? I don't know. Ask the writer. He'll tell you why he keeps these poor creatures in unnecessary positions.

 

    Meanwhile, the young lady attempts to make conversation, finally.

 

"So... you figure out what broke your sword?", she asks him, staring blankly at the wooden floor.

    "Nope", he drops the screwdriver. "I can't find where the damaged part is. Plus, there's no way to open the Mercury cartridge. I'm gonna need some better tools."

      That was the end of that conversation, and again an awkward silence closes Anna's will.

      "You don't have to force yourself", he  breaks the quietness.

      She blushes as her hand covers the relieved smile on her face.

      "I wasn't forcing myself or anything, you dolt...."

    "Says the girl hiding her embarrassment." 

    "Don't give me that", she reaches over and pulls him by the hair.

      "Ow....", he sighs with a displeased look.

      “Hey, remember what you used to call me?", she playfully chants.

        He chuckles a little and shrugs with his face.

"Yeah, yeah, my princess."

  "I’m surprised you still remember that and not our promise, my knight", she tilts herself closer to him.

    “How could I not remember?”, he removes his left glove, exposing the back of his hand which was branded by a fourth-degree burn.

    “That’s your fault!”, she pouts. “You wouldn't let go of my hand.”

    “I can’t disobey my princess’ orders.” He grins childishly, “Besides, my hand looks cooler this way. If I had let go of your hand when you said you were afraid, I’d lose my badass points.”

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Anna remembers this incident quite well. The two of them were playing outside her father’s yard when they were six, and as he leads her out, a faint spark started to grow until it turned into a huge roaring inferno on her hand, but he still didn't let go.

    “This is nothing.”

        Those were his words, holding onto her stubbornly despite the flames licking his skin.

  Luckily one of the maids saw them and immediately extinguished the flame.

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    “That was really stupid of you, you know?”

    He suddenly feels the grip on his hair loosening.

  “True.” He turns himself and the chair toward her. “But if I hadn’t been stupid and instead ran like a coward, you think we’d still be able to talk like this?”

  She could’ve sworn she felt like her heart stopped when their eyes met. For a second there, her chest pounded harder than the writer’s fingers on the mouse when he’s playing League and the ping is over a thousand.

  Angry and confused with this unusually convenient situation, she grabs his hand and uses it to caress her cheek.

      “What…”

      “Don’t let go.”

  Her temperature rises, and a flame starts to radiate within her, literally. Every inch of her skin burns wildly, glowing as bright and warm as a blue flame that lights up the dark of the night. An azure brilliance that could make the whole world behold in awe.

  It didn’t hurt Credo. He felt no pain at all, like the burns on his hand were nothing. Only one word he knew could describe it: Warm. He was captivated by the flames dancing around the reflection of his eyes. What’s this feeling called again? He doesn’t remember, but he does remember what caused it.

    HOWEVER…

As we all know, the world can be quite a b*tch sometimes. For example, you’re alone with the person you hold dearly while sharing each other’s intimacy when all of a sudden life knocks and bangs loudly against the wooden door.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

  “Excuse me, but the mayor is requesting for your presence”, says a man’s voice from outside the door.

  At hearing this, his hand slips from her grip and the flame dies out in an instant.

    “Yeah, sure. We’ll be there.” He stands from his seat as he replies. 

“He requests to meet at the plaza. Please be there within half an hour.” He announces this and takes his leave. 

As he grabs his glove from the table and puts it back on, he teases Anna who was flushed red with embarrassment.

“So… what was that about?”

“S-shut up!”, she sulks like a tsundere. “I was just… I was just trying to see if you’d still be loyal to me like last time! There’s no deeper meaning to it, okay!”

“Whatever you say, Milady.”

“Anyway”, she stands, still blushing, and walks to the door. “We should get going.”

“You go ahead. I’ll wake the cats.”

“Hmph!” She exits and slams the door.

As she makes her way through the halls, a question kept echoing inside her head.

“Why did you do that, you idiot!”

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1. A line from the song "Nothingman" by Pearl Jam.

2. Dante's alias from the Devil May Cry Anime.

3. There are also 60,000 loose souls to be collected in the Anime/Manga, "Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai".

4. Small, intelligent race of cats from Monster Hunter.

5. Popular service type of business in Japan.

6. Anime about "False Love".

Reviews

[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

Is it me or everything is slowing down. (Probably just me)

[Oran]

Yeah, I slowed down the pace after Solis' incident. This is kind of a respite after the climax of the last arc.