Chapter 153 - I May Not Understand That Feeling
In the perpetual night of the Emerald City, a streak of blue danced through the onyx-black streets. He tore through the City's defenses like a needle piercing cloth, weaving elaborate patterns in the emptiness left behind. It was not at all like the first time he had traversed the blackened streets. Then, he had been fleeing and hiding from an impossible opponent. The Blue Reverberation was a Color Fixer, a fighter of inhuman skill and power bolstered further by his dear muse's gifts, but he was not invincible. Without allies and in unfamiliar ground, the Adult Who Tells Lies was not a foe he could confront. So he had scattered, fleeing from imitations of his former companions until being blessed with a new one to guide his path out. It had been, despite his best efforts, horribly undignified.
Things were different now. Though Leonie was not with him at the moment, Argalia once again had allies by his side. And what allies they were! While used to taking the lead in any collaborative efforts he was involved in, working to bring out the best in everyone and ensuring that each individual could see in each other what Argalia saw in them, it was an interesting change of pace to take the backseat for once.
Truth be told, Argalia could not keep his thoughts entirely on the task at hand. He certainly did not allow his focus to slip like some rank amateur when faced with such an important task, but a part of his mind remained fixed on the Composer practically since they had met. They were at once everything he had expected and not at all like he'd thought they would be. She was certainly quieter and more subdued than he was, but held an undeniably commanding presence nonetheless. The woman exuded authority in every sense of the word. She was not as warm as his muse's voice, but in place of that warmth was a firm and immovable certainty and reliability. And while he hadn't experienced it personally, having already reached the point of awakening, Argalia was not blind to the way she acted around the children she brought with her. The way she encouraged them, advised them, protected them… she wished to see them reach their full potential, and they knew it and loved her for it. It was not the method he would've used, but his time had come and gone already. It wouldn't be right to try and seize command now when X was doing such a good job already. Argalia could be patient.
A ripple of something vile and hungry sang through the air, and Argalia could not help but take notice. The Distortion scanned his surroundings until his eye settled on a particularly durable-looking Witch and rushed forward to cleave it open, then hooked Al Fine's blade into the gaping wound and used his newly-made leverage to pull the creature's body over him as an impromptu shelter. Horribly undignified, yes, but effective. The moment's reprieve allowed him to better tune his senses towards the new sound echoing through the Emerald City.
His first impression had been accurate: the strongest thing he could feel from the newcomer was hunger. Not in the sense of starvation or gluttony, but closer to the way a vine might strangle the landscape as it grows towards the sun. Normally an attitude Argalia would endorse with all his heart, but something in the harmony sat ill at ease to the Color Fixer. The note was stretched and amplified beyond what is natural, twisted into an entire melody that it could not truly carry. It held only a bare resemblance to the voice he had heard X negotiating with not an hour ago.
Argalia dismissed the thought and the noise along with it. He'd dealt with unpleasant fellows as allies before. There would be time to deal with that creature as necessary once the matter at hand is concluded. Tuning his senses elsewhere, he felt for the most fragile of his assailants crowding around his makeshift shelter and charged.
The pace of the battle had shifted. While before Argalia was forced to dart from place to place, never lingering for too long lest a proper force mobilize against him, now the enemy was in disarray. His gaze shifted to the horizon for a moment, the place where the Emerald City's interior curve turned upward, and saw something blooming in the distance. It almost reminded him of a sunset in coloration, but bursting from the earth in a directionless mess of wings and claws. Again, Argalia thanked his new friend for their skill in negotiating. Whatever that was would have made for a difficult foe.
Sweeping through the Emerald City's uncoordinated defenses, Argalia made his way to the Mill. There was still some intent guiding the opposition, but it was less skilled than it had been before. It would herd him towards traps or attempt to draw him towards ambushes in unfavorable positions. Now, the enemy's tactics had become simpler. Argalia suspected that one of the poor, deceived children were now at the helm.
That would make things more interesting. Argalia ducked past a trapped street and into a nearby building to deliberate. Was it worth going after the Magical Girl? There were two main possibilities he could see. Either the Magical Girl now commanding this portion of the Emerald City's forces was far away so they couldn't be interrupted, or nearby so they could personally intervene quickly if necessary. Argalia was leaning much more towards the latter possibility. The Emerald City's regent was very much the type to use her subordinates rather than attempt to preserve them. Still, it worked out in his favor. So long as he kept to the planned route, they would be forced to confront Argalia eventually.
Leonie had told him quite a bit about her time in the Emerald City. She only had passing impressions of her colleagues, yes, but that was more than enough for somebody like Argalia to work with. It wouldn't be too difficult to bring whoever showed up around to a more honest way of thinking. X had requested the children be kept alive anyways, and Argalia always made a point to be somebody his friends could rely on.
It wouldn't be long now until he reached his destination. The Emerald City was a terrifyingly deadly place, and Argalia had nearly fallen for its tricks more than once already, but his unique abilities made it incredibly difficult for the more lethal consequences to reach him. He had been given ample opportunities up until now to familiarize himself with the frequency of the Adult Who Tells Lies' magic, enough that both tracking and dismantling it as it approached was no longer an impossible task.
Argalia danced back into the thick of the battlefield, gliding from place to place always barely out of reach. With how insufficient his current opposition was proving, it was only a matter of time before a proper response was sent. Would it be one of the Magical Girls, or perhaps one of those disgraceful copies? Whatever the case, he had a lot to look forward to.
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Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Schadenfreude's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED
