“Something’s coming!” Belgrieve warned.
Everybody immediately readied their weapon and stood on guard. A number of black shadows were approaching, blending in with the mist. Just before the nearest one could lunge at them, Kasim blasted it away with his magic.
“Demons...? No, doesn’t look like it. But they don’t seem to be allies either.”
“Heh heh... Just what I needed. I was getting bored!”
Marguerite enthusiastically brandished her sword and sliced through an approaching figure. There seemed to be a great number of them lurking beyond the darkness. They moved unsteadily like zombies as they approached.
With one swing of his sword, Percival sent six of them flying at once. “I’m in a bad mood... I’ll be taking it out on all of you.”
The shadows dissipated as soon as they were sliced through. The more of them they defeated, the more the mist seemed to clear. What exactly are they? And what sort of place are we in to begin with? Belgrieve wondered. Suddenly, his amputated leg began to throb, and Graham’s sword growled. Beyond the thinning mist, he saw a seated figure clutching its knees. The mist seemed to be concentrated around the being.
“Ah! Ange!” Belgrieve shouted.
The huddled-up figure shuddered and looked towards them. It was certainly Angeline. Her expression was fearful as could be, and she looked at them with teary eyes, bewildered.
“Ange! Come back! It’s not like you to run away!” Anessa called out.
“That’s right! Are you going to abandon us?” Miriam cried.
Angeline covered her ears and shook her head.
I don’t have the right to be with everyone.
She hadn’t spoken aloud, but it was as though the void itself resonated to convey her words.
“What ‘right’ are you even talking about?!” Marguerite angrily called out. “You’re not getting away with a win against me, stupid Ange!”
Marguerite scattered all the encroaching shadows in one burst before rushing straight at Angeline. Angeline fearfully cowered, pushing her hands out at Marguerite.
Don’t come any closer, Maggie!
Black-stained fingertips stretched out like spears. Marguerite, wide-eyed, twisted her body to avoid them. Even so, new lacerations were opened across her body, and fresh blood oozed down her skin.
“You wench... Fine, I’ll beat you up and drag you back by force!” Losing her temper, Marguerite readied her sword again, but she detected a peculiar presence descending from above. When she looked up, she saw a conspicuously larger shadow falling straight for her, its unnaturally long hand reaching out as though to crush her flat.
“Another one?!” Miriam murmured, conjuring lightning.
“Dammit, there’s too many of them...” Anessa’s enchanted arrows exploded all around them. Even so, the shadows were gaining momentum. They continued to shamble out from beyond the mist.
“Hmm... It’d be nice if I could fire off some grand magic, but Ange would get caught up in it...” Kasim grumbled as he settled for rapidly firing off bolts of magic.
“Mr. Bell...” Miriam pleaded to Belgrieve. Anessa was looking at him too.
“I’ll do it.”
Belgrieve squeezed the hilt of the holy sword and began walking towards Angeline’s shuddering figure.
Stay away!
Belgrieve raised the sword aloft, undaunted. He took a deep breath before letting loose a powerful downward swing along with his exhaled breath. A turbulent torrent of mana raged forth from the blade, immediately pushing back all the seething shadows.
The light emitted by the sword and the ensuing mana blast illuminated the void, dulling the movement of their foes. Angeline held her head in pain as she got up and stumbled away into the darkness where the mist was heavier. There appeared to be a faintly visible hole there which she had seemingly fled into. Belgrieve raced forth after Angeline.
“Ange! Wait! If you don’t pull yourself together, I’m surely going to get angry, really!” Percival yelled as he made to follow behind Belgrieve, but the shadows surged forth to impede him.
As Belgrieve passed through the dark mist, the light of the holy sword grew dimmer. The shadows were like an expression of Angeline’s will to keep everyone away from her, surrounding the party and separating the rest of them from Belgrieve, who had rushed ahead. Unlike before, defeating these ones did not thin the mist. In fact, it seemed to be growing thicker. It coiled around them, weighing down their bodies.
“Out of the way!”
“Bell!”
Belgrieve glanced back as he ran. The gap between him and his companions had been completely crammed full of shadows, and it didn’t look like he would be able to reunite with them. He couldn’t let this go on. Belgrieve whispered to the holy sword, “Please protect everyone.” Then he drew the blade back, took aim, and threw it with all his might. The tip pierced into the ground with a mighty tremor. The sword growled, and within the soft glowing light it emanated, the shadows all instantly began moving several magnitudes slower.
Kasim stared in disbelief. “Bell, what do you think you’re doing?!”
“She wants to see me. A father doesn’t need a weapon to talk to his daughter,” Belgrieve said before turning back to follow Angeline.
The hole beyond the mist was growing smaller. Strangely, the shadows never went after Belgrieve. If these were a manifestation of Angeline’s will, then she was calling for him—that was how he saw it.
“Hey, Bell!” Percival shouted, slicing through the shadows.
“Wait for me. I’ll definitely return.”
“You... You fool! You’d better return! And you better not come back alone!” Percival yelled, punctuating his words by cutting a large hand that came down from above to ribbons.
“I believe in you, Bell! Let’s all have dinner together later!” Kasim encouraged him.
“Please, Mr. Bell!” said Anessa.
“Make sure you come back with Ange!” Miriam pleaded.
And finally, Marguerite shouted, “You won’t hear the end of it if you die!”
Belgrieve answered with a sharp, wordless nod.
The farther he went, the worse his phantom pain grew. But Belgrieve gritted his teeth. This is nothing.
Eventually, he too had disappeared from everyone’s sight.