Okay, before I confuse anybody this story took place about three weeks ago. Enjoy! ^_^
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Upon hearing Morgan le Fay’s “hint” concerning what befell of Etxel during the invasion of Citadel Abyss my only thought was to return to his side as fast as possible. I didn’t care about accidentally showing everyone nearby my ability to carve a pathway strait into the depths of their headquarters, nor did I care to be characteristically discreet about the frustration I felt at the situation at hand. For me, the only thing that mattered was the man I selfishly allowed to imprison my soul and his continued existence.
Immediately upon reentry into the catacombs I soared past its countless cells, not even bothering to stop to conceal my signature. Due to the bombardment of the castle that transpired only moments sooner some of the passageways where blocked by giant mounds of rubble. I ignored those for the most part until I found that one of those passages was the one I needed to reach Etxel. Cursing what fate had presented me, I let out a roar as I drew out my blade to slice through the rocks laying in my wake.
Before the dust had a chance to settle I pressed onward at full speed. During this time I didn’t bother to sheath Kage no Kokoro either; I wanted to be ready to cut down anything else that would dare to stand in my way without delay. Also during this venture I found that part of me wanted to believe that my idiot knight in blinding armor managed to escape from falling debris. A nice thought really, but considering the condition I had left him in that thought was pure folly.
Down this hall…past that corner…Etxel, you better be there! Just before I could pass that said corner three Berserkers materialized before me. The one closest to me made a move to swing its colossal weapon straight into my chest.
Fool, I growled to myself. Catching its weapon in mid-swing I used it to vault myself in the air. From there I spun back around and allowed gravity to use me like a make-shift guillotine. Milliseconds upon successfully beheading the first Berserker I lunged at the second post haste. It wasn’t difficult to figure out that it would block my attack with its claymore so at the last possible moment I twisted myself around it to thrust Kage no Kokoro straight through where its absent heart resided. Almost as if it were mourning the loss of its fallen comrades, in the fashion of the warriors of its namesake, the third entered its berserk stage and proceeded to aimlessly pound its weapon wherever was most convenient for it. This tactic, however, proved inefficient for the apparition because upon seeing its sudden change in demeanor I faded away to bide my time in the safety of the shadows. When its short-lived bout of fury was over I came back at the Berserker from below and effortlessly spilt him in two. After discharging the apparitions back to the darkness from whence they came, I moved on as if these events never happened.
However, I detected a presence that was all too familiar right around the corner. Halting myself from proceeding any further I quickly submerged myself back into the shadows, evaporating my presence. I decided it best to remain in this position until I could make out if whether or not they actually sensed me coming. Every bit of my training screamed at me to retreat regardless if they did or not, but my will demanded me to do otherwise. Taking a gambit at what fate had in store for me at that moment after a few moments of no response, I slowly made my way forward to see Xerebus and Verex looming over a motionless Etxel. My first instinct was to panic at this sight, but I stopped my urge to overreact by reasoning to myself that simpletons such as Etxel are incapable of dying so easily.
“Xerebus, he doesn’t look too good. It’s a wonder how he even managed to survive both the beating he received and the roof caving in over his head.” said Verex with a slight tone of concern prevalent in his voice.
“Well, I didn’t hire him as our prison guard for nothing.” said Xerebus rather indifferently.
Verex glanced over to get a better look at Xerebus. “What shall we do with him now?”
Xerebus responded automatically, “As injured as he now, he’s useless to me. Take him to the infirmary or just dump his body altogether, I don’t care which. Just get him out of here so we can continue clearing out the dungeons of the debris.” The tone that Xerebus used during this statement, to me, sounded as though he were referring to a broken toy. This, however, wasn’t anything new. As far as I was concerned, to him that’s all anyone who sided with him was: disposable. Nevertheless though, hearing his words made me desire to lunge at him to liberate his face of that venomous mouth of his. What made me refrain from such a course of action was the fact that I was too busy sadistically grinning to myself about how similar Xerebus was to his counterpart in Organization Oblivion.
“Oh, and Xakiah,” said Xerebus maintaining his tone of indifference, “Why won’t you join us? I’ve known since the moment you killed those three Berserkers I ordered to scout the halls that you were here, so there’s no point in trying to hide yourself anymore. Besides, there’s much that I’ve wanted to discuss with you for some time now, anyway.”
‘Scout the area?’ Hah! Surely you jest, you arrogant fool. Anyone with a brain would’ve known it was me LONG before the Berserkers…especially considering how reckless I was getting here. As satisfying as it would’ve been to vent this aggravation to him, I deduced it would be more beneficial to keep my silence. Unfortunately, Xerebus was one of those types that knew how and when to pick his battles in places that suited him and did so with irritating accuracy. I figured if I was to fall into one of his schemes, which in this instance was inevitable, I might as well linger on some even playing field while I could. (Besides…it would also prevent me from having to admit that I made an amateurish mistake.)
After some time had passed, Xerebus called out to me once more. “Xakiah, I don’t have time for your games. Where are you hiding?” I left the responsibility of sending him an answer to the natural sounds produced within the dungeon.
“Very well, you leave me no choice.” He then turned his gaze to look at his lapdog and commanded him to step aside. Verex—for whatever reason—hesitated to comply with this order, mumbling something I couldn’t hear all the while. Xerebus then extended his right arm and summoned his ominous masamune into his fighting hand. Fiercely repeating his verdict once more, Verex complied without another word and placed himself far away from the line of fire.
So you wish to fight me in this dark, narrow hall with a weapon that barely fits within the battleground? And against an opponent whose own skills reign supreme in these conditions, no less? (Are you trying to feed my ego, you arrogant fool?) …I don’t like this...not one bit…
Xerebus positioned himself over Etxel and slowly raised his weapon for the kill in a fashion befitting the executioners of yore. Pausing for a while—possibly to savor the moment—Xerebus used his full force on the downturn of his blade to deliver the final stroke. Before his blade even reached the midway point I deflected his weapon from extracting its purpose by opening a portal straight in the line of its path. Fortunately he didn’t catch this sudden development in time and ended up banishing his weapon to the void. Taking advantage of his few seconds of shock I disabled the portal, temporarily cutting him off from his implement of death, bolted from where I hid, and slashed him across the back. Quick to recover Xerebus launched some of his own power straight at me.
I had barely enough time to vanish back into the shadows to avoid a direct hit and watched as this burst of power zoomed down the hallway, which later created a muffled “boom” noise as it finally came in contact with a wall far away from where we were. “Cleaver Xakiah, but you won’t be so lucky next time.” Before he could make his next comment I soared at him from the ceiling. This time he anticipated my coming and used some of his raw power to parry my blade. In the next instant he used a shockwave to send me flying back, the sheer force of it alone knocking the wind clean out of me. I would’ve smacked the adjacent wall right then and there if not for Xerebus materializing behind me to send me flying yet again in the opposite direction.
His next move was to come at me from above like what I had attempted to do with him. Instead I disappointed him by vanishing back to the shadows just in time to see him demolish a good chunk of the thick, stone wall in front of him. Straightening his posture after the final stone had fallen, he calmly said to Verex, “I’ll handle this miscreant. Leave us.”
Verex responded, “As you wish, but I’m taking Etxel to the infirmary.”
“Fine.” With that, Xerebus and I were left alone to destroy one another in the dungeon. In silence, save for the usual grunts produced from the vocal cords when in contact with pain, we continued to bombard each other with various attacks. Our tactics, however, were dissimilar; while as I continued to phase between the realm of shadows and the dungeons to deliver quick slashes to any part of his body that I could manage and to spare myself from the brunt of his attacks, Xerebus accurately and swiftly flailed his power in every place that he saw me come in and out. Just as when we started, I was able to avoid most of these assaults, but the ones that did manage to make impact stripped me of large chunks of my stamina. At one point I managed to unleash my weapon’s namesake attack on him, only for that venture to result in him delivering a similar attack right back at me. In both cases these attacks proved useless and it was from there that, to avoid a repeat of that experience, I dedicated most of my energy into physical pursuits.
