Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (41 page)

“You abandoned us,”
said the second mage, a boy with orange hair and a white staff.

The girl jumped away
from Basilard and the mages flanked her. The Illumination Orbs shined over all
three to give no doubt of their identity.

“Allow us to introduce
ourselves. Sosuke Lokhin, twenty years old, Squad One regular in the Dragon’s
Lair and the first ever trained by Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to
save me.”

“Haru Tera, twenty-one
years old, Squad Three regular in the Dragon's Lair and the first ever trained
by Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to save me.”

“Kazuma Junao, nineteen
years old, Squad Two regular in the Dragon's Lair and the first ever trained by
Basilard Bladi. I died because he failed to save me.”

Basilard stepped back,
mouth open and wide-eyed. BloodDrinker slipped from his grasp.

“...You can't be
here...I destroyed it...Gone...How did he...?”

“Just as Father said;
you are so weak that a reminder of your failure can break your mind.”

“You do not deserve
BloodDrinker.”

“You do not deserve Bladi
blood.”

“You do not deserve
your life!”

Back at the camp,
Haburt received a message. He had been trading messages with this caller since
his arrival in this country, and this one was the second he received today. The
first arrived some hours earlier and said
“The plan is set. Your order is
waiting.”
The second said,
“Prepare the payment.”
Moments later,
three teenage warriors stepped into the campfire light. With a heavy heart, he
grabbed his staff, checked that his chloroform was easily accessible, and
approached Tiza’s tent.

Inside, Tiza was alone
and curled up. Slowly and carefully, the trio approached the pretty young girl.
She was so vulnerable in her sleep. With utmost gentleness, they pinned her
down and muffled her voice with the drugged cloth. As expected, she thrashed,
but they kept her still and quiet until their gift took effect. When her
heartbeat decreased and she stopped moving, they kept the rag in place for a
full minute longer to make sure. Haburt was assigned to warn them if anyone
approached. One pulled out a pair of handcuffs and a pair of ankle chains while
the other held her wrists and feet together.

 At the cliff edge,
Nolien appraised his attackers and formed a plan of attack. Based on their
formation, they were Dragon’s Lair like himself. Based on their eyes, they were
related to the Bladi clan. Now to make use of that information…

Kazuma raised his
healer staff and recited, “Blessing of Chaos: Monster’s Strength!”

Haru raised his battle
mage staff and recited, “Fire’s might, shine bright! Flamberge!”

Sosuke’s body flashed
red light and the blade of her ax gleamed with fire. She went back on the
offensive with a right-hand slash.

“Sleep!” Nolien cast.

“Awareness!” His
counterpart countered.

The two spells negated
and Sosuke followed through with her attack unhindered. Nolien sidestepped and
struck at her throat while Zettai crawled away under the cover of darkness.
Sosuke stepped back again and Nolien bowled her over with a front kick to the
stomach. Two streams of mana bolts came at him from her mage teammates, but he
blocked them both with his barrier. It took surprisingly little effort to do
this. He could even weaken the barrier slightly in order to dismiss Sosuke’s
buffs. Then their battle continued.

Zettai crawled towards
Kazuma by using Nolien’s Illumination Orb as a guide. It was too bright for the
enemy healer to negate with a dark bolt despite his many attempts. This allowed
Zettai to reach the border of the orb’s effect and tackle him to the ground.
Before he could bring his staff against her, she smashed a rock she found onto
his temple. She did this until his skull caved, and then a couple more times,
just to be sure. Then she grabbed his staff and jogged to the second mage.

All three of the others
had taken notice of her by now, but Sosuke was busy with Nolien, so only Haru
engaged her. He fired a stream of mana bolts at her with one hand and used the
other to fire a full ice spell at Nolien’s feet. Zettai held the staff out in
front of herself, hoping it would block the attack, but it didn’t, and she was
pelted all over by the bolts. Nolien avoided the ice and pressed his attack on
Sosuke, finally incapacitating her by knocking the wind from her and then
stunning her with a blow to the side of her head. Without Kazuma, she was soon
in dreamless and magical sleep.

Haru glanced from his
fallen comrades to his enemies and lunged for the weaker of the two. A wall of
mana bolts rushed ahead of him and reached Zettai first. They surrounded her
like a force field. He skidded to a halt just in time to be beaten black and
blue by them. Zettai grabbed his staff too.

“Normally, I’d scold
you for touching a mage’s staff, but since you don’t know any better, I’ll let
it slide this time.”

He pulled out a dagger
and plunged it through the hearts and throats of Haru and Sosuke.

“Normally, I wouldn’t
do this either, but I can’t have them attacking myself or my team again.” He
cleaned the blade and re-sheathed it. “Come on; the others are in trouble.”

“R-right!”

At the other end of the
plateau, Basilard was fighting a defensive battle. The reflexes of a lifetime refused
to let him be killed, but his memories refused to let him raise his hand in
violence against his former students. He dodged spells, blocked blades, and
avoided traps, but did not counterattack. However, his mind was still
processing the state of events.

These three claimed to
have been resurrected, but Death himself confirmed their crossing. He refused
to allow such a thing as revival, not even when Basilard beat him in a drinking
match. Thus, they had to be fakes and only a handful of people could do such a
thing. One of them was his exiled uncle who practiced the forbidden arts. If
his uncle was here, then he had one goal: reclaiming BloodDrinker. If he was using
emotional blackmail to keep him busy, then he would use the same to accomplish
his goal. All at once, his expression changed from fear and guilt to
remorseless resolve. He drew BloodDrinker and made three swift cuts, one in
each attacker. Then he raised it high and said, “Drink your fill.”

The sword pulsed and
absorbed all three simultaneously. It only took a moment to reduce them to
clothed skeletons.

Back at the camp, Tiza
was about to become a hostage. Then, just as Sosuke set the cuffs around Tiza’s
hands, two mana bolts generated from them and blew her and Kazuma away. Two
more at her feet did the same to Haru, who was holding them together. They had
the force of goat kicks and knocked the wind out of all three of them. Tiza
grabbed two daggers from under her pillow and stabbed Sosuke in the chest. Then
she mana bolted the boys again as they recovered and fell on them in turn.

She walked out of the
tent with her sword on her back, her gauntlets on her arms, and one ring on
each hand. There was dagger in one and the handcuffs in the other. Haburt fired
a man bolt at her feet powerful enough to crater the ground. It sent shrapnel flying
and cut her dress (it quickly repaired itself to perfect condition).

“Why are you still
conscious? The chloroform should have put you under for hours!”

“I’m immune to it.”

“How could you be
immune to chloroform?”

“Are you
kidding
?
That was the first thing Spider Daylra made me immune to.”

“Did she make you
immune to
this
? Wind Vault!” 

Winds picked up all
around Tiza and began solidifying into walls. She ran towards Haburt and the
wind followed her, still solidifying. She cocked a punch, only to hit a wall
made of nothing.

“No!”

She pounded on the
barrier between her and Haburt.

“Let me out!”

She punched and kicked,
but all she accomplished was making her hands and feet sting and her wrists
sore. She sword-slashed and mana bolted, but only wasted energy.

Memories flooded her
consciousness; wind closing in, a woman shouting for her, and three men
fighting. Haburt carrying her to a prison somewhere and another woman smiling
and forcing something down her throat.
“How are you feeling today, Vaya
dear?”

“AHHHHH!”

Videlicet Mens
activated and she resumed battering the walls of her cage. Every inch of her
flared blue light as she put every ounce of her power into escaping. Haburt
held it firm. As a greater mage, he was leagues ahead of her in spiritual
power. Escape was impossible. Eventually, the aura faded and Tiza sank to her
knees. Dropping her sword, she breathed heavily and hugged herself.

“You must think me a
monster for this, but it’s the only way to reunite with my daughter.”

“S-spare me…the shit…
asshole.”

Tiza pushed a button on
her hilt and the bottom dropped out. Along with it was a tiny vial of Mana Juice.
She unscrewed the top and threw back the contents in one shot.

“You don’t care about
anyone but yourself. I've had nightmares about this spell for years and I
couldn’t tell if it was a memory or not. I was terrified of you without knowing
why. I suppose I should thank you for trying a second time. Now I can conquer
my fear.”

Haburt gulped. He told
himself it was impossible. She was a novice fighter. Nothing she had could
possibly overcome a greater mage’s spell. Tiza stood up and smirked. It was
impossible, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him otherwise.

 Tiza clenched her
right fist and then extended her middle finger to show off the tiger’s eye
ring.

“Hard as stone, every
bone: Earth Empowerment!”

Brown light shined from
her eyes and her skin. She picked up her sword and the brown light spread to
the tip of its blade. Her soul was now putting out earth-tinged mana, thus
making her an earth-aligned creature. Her sword was now the perfect key for a
cage made of wind.

She clenched her left
fist and then extended her middle finger to show off the pale sapphire.

“Be gone air, I will
not despair: Wind Banishment!”

Soft blue light flashed
and the Wind Vault waned. The walls were now thinner and the winds themselves
weaker.

She took a breath and
thrust her sword through the wind wall. Haburt pushed back, but little by
little, the blade penetrated until it emerged on the other side. With a
wordless cry, Tiza slashed upwards. She stepped through the gap and pointed her
sword at Haburt. Her killing intent made his knees weak.

“I am still a greater
mage! My spirit can repel anything a fighter of your caliber can muster and my
mana bolts can surely break your barrier. Surrender or my next spell will kill
you!”

“How about
you
surrender or Basilard makes your blood boil in your veins.”

“Impossible! My
associate set up the perfect trap! There’s no way any of your allies are alive,
including the crazy earth lady!”

Tiza sneered with
glorious bloodlust.

“Don’t you get it?
There is only one way this night will end without you as a splatter on the
ground. I was trained by a veteran of black ops; you’re a professional
bookworm. I’m sure I can stay away from you until you run out of mana. Then
you’ll be helpless. All I need to do is land one clean hit and then you’re part
of the history you’ve got a hard-on for. Now, if you surrender, you have a much
higher chance of seeing the sunrise.”

If he did that, then
his chances of success plummeted. The best course of action was to trust
Mr.15’s plan and attack. Haburt carefully charged a mana bolt strong enough to
incapacitate her and then his staff arm fell limp to his side.

“What in the name of
Fire…”

His legs folded
underneath him and his staff fell from his numb hand. It rolled away and out of
reach. Two spiders descended from his body, crossed the battlefield, crawled up
Tiza’s legs and then disappeared somewhere.

“I should have known,”
he muttered. “The Spider is called such for a reason.”

“Yup,” Tiza said
gleefully. “As the Spider’s student, I know a few things myself.”

With the handcuffs
meant for herself, she restrained the paralyzed professor. Then, just for fun,
she gagged him with his hat. She scanned the area with Third Eye, determined
that her teammates and Sias were safe, and decided make use of the time before
they arrived. She placed her sword against Haburt’s neck.  

“You're the reason I
have amnesia. You’re the reason I lived on the street before joining the
Dragon’s Lair. You’re the reason I don't know my parents. I should kill you for
any one of these. Give me one reason why I shouldn't.”

Haburt spat out his
hat. It landed at Tiza’s feet. “I can tell you who your parents are.”

 “…I'm listening.”

 “Look behind my left
ear and you’ll see a red-black bite. Your mother gave it to me years ago. It’s
the reason I’m deaf in that ear.”

“Y-you…you mean…”

“Yes, Sathel Aranid is
your mother and Retina Corison is your father.”

 Inside her head,
metaphoric gears clicked into place. “Of course...Spider Daylra's training
focused on resisting capture. Third Eye is unique to Daylra's Dear because of
mana mutation…” She stumbled backward. “She's smothering and he can't stand
Tenderfoot. Wow…” She got weak in the knees and sat down on a rock. “...my real
parents are cooler than the ones I imagined...”

When her teammates and
Sias returned, she was still in a happy stupor. Nolien and Zettai assumed it
was from putting the professor in his place. Basilard thought differently, but
held his peace.

“Nolien, Illumination
Orbs now. I want to see this entire courtyard. Tiza, keep an eye on the
surroundings. If anything approaches, tell me. Sias, I need you to help her
monitor and take care of any hostiles that remain in or around the castle.”