Chapter One Hundred
Hiraga Saito had faced a Chimera once. A Hydra shouldn't have been more difficult. At the same time, the reason he was still breathing was that with the Pope on his shoulders, Julio did not dare use the creature's toxic breath. Yet, the heads snaked with a speed so blindingly fast that it took everything Saito had to keep up with them.
His greatsword clanked loudly as a head slammed against it, denting the iron slab as if it were made of tin foil. The creature's teeth were thin sharp needles that came far too close to Saito's face for his liking.
More heads surrounded him, or tried to. He didn't stay still on the spot to let them strike at him, but trying to near Julio yielded the result of being flung back.
There was always one head ready to intercept him. And if he cut one? Then another grew immediately up, accompanied by a friend.
This was like that Hercules movie, only Saito didn't have an avalanche to 'kill' the thing. In the end, he needed both hands free for the bow, but he couldn't risk losing sight of the Pope. He knew the dragons flying around them in circle like carrion eaters were under Julio's control, and they wouldn't wait more than a second to come down and snatch the Pope up.
Why did they even need him when they had this many beasts at their disposal?
Still, to win without killing. He believed in that, and he would ensure that would happen.
He clenched the greatsword half-bent tightly, and then rushed forward. The moment the Hydra's head began to move to snatch him up, he used the Pope as a human shield and immediately the creature's eyes widened in disbelief as she pulled back.
Julio's mouth opened to say something, but it was too late as Saito was already in front of him, having powered his way neatly through yet one more head who hastily moved away.
"You want the Pope," Saito snarled as he finished his rush by pushing the Pope right against Julio's chest, "Then get the Pope!" the strength of the impact between his Holiness and his familiar was enough that they ended up thrown off the beast. As Julio landed on his back on the paved road of Romalia, he gasped for air as his only limb held tightly on to the Pope's unconscious form.
Saito's greatsword came cruising down at its bent angle and carved through the stone itself, stopping a mere hair away from the Pope's neck. "Move from there, and you'll end up cutting his head off," he warned firmly as grasped his bow with his other hand, not letting go of the Runes' power yet.
If he did, he'd probably fall unconscious.
"Partner, your body's at its limits!" Derflinger spoke from the bow, but Saito simply took a deep breath and clutched an arrow. The arrow began to shine softly, the Hydra's frame turning towards him with all of its many heads. The string was tensed, and then the arrow was released. It no longer was an arrow, but a shining tiny sun that pushed through the creature's main body with ease and as it left a large hole the size of a cannon ball, the creature's giant heart was turned to mush, a shower of blood erupting from the creature's back.
The heads' eyes widened, and then the entire monstrosity fell down abruptly. The dragons began to rush down next, and as arrow after arrow was mercilessly released, the creatures fell down with harsh impacts. There was blood up to Saito's ankles by the time the remaining dragons pulled out, but as manticores and griffons took the spot, the boy simply laughed.
Many of the beasts had been freed, and those who hadn't were converging to swarm Saito by sheer numbers. Even a few who weren't under Julio's control still followed out of pack-logic, and thus there it was.
The last arrow struck against the chest of a manticore, Saito moved aside to avoid a griffon's dive from the skies, before gripping with his left hand one of the creature's wings and ripping it off with the strength of his bare right hand alone. The griffon screamed loudly, and then was no more as Saito's dagger sliced the neck of the beast cleanly off.
"I can do this all day!" Saito snapped angrily, rolling away from a manticore's tail, bringing the dagger back up to slice it and make the beast scream in pain and fall down on its knees.
Behind him, the sound of galloping horses soon turned into the charge of a pack of Unicorns. Saito blinked at the sight, "You've got to be kidding me."
"Face it!" Julio laughed from his spot on the road. "You're surrounded, Gandalfr!"
Saito would have retorted, but a shower of fire engulfed him as it came from a nearby rooftop, where a few Templars had aligned their wands together to form molten jets of flame that twisted together into a single column.
"Burn the heretic! Cleanse the infidel! Save the Pope!"
The runes in Saito's hand shone as the flames were absorbed, and with a twist of his wrist, unleashed not back at the templars, but at the upcoming Unicorns who neighed loudly as they fell on the ground, or avoided the blast and began to ran away as a wall of flames blocked their charge forward. They were still horses. Horses with horns capable of stabbing people, but still horses.
Saito fell down on one knee, gasping for air.
"Partner!"
"I can still go on," Saito snapped angrily, flexing his legs and jumping on the rooftop where the Templars stood in wait. Spikes of rock were launched at him, but as he gripped and twisted his body upon one, he deftly jumped with it as a platform through the barrage and ended up right in the middle of the Templars' formation.
"Demon! Monster! Burn in the name of-" a blow to the head knocked the Templar out, before Saito's right arm moved with a will of its own, cutting tendons, stabbing shoulders and easily piercing through their armors with a blade that wouldn't have been good to cut cheese to begin with, and yet was now more than capable of doing it.
The ground quaked once, and then twice. Saito nearly stumbled off the ledge of the rooftop as he looked at the source of the earthquake itself. It was a large, no, enormous, creature. It easily dwarfed the Pope's palace, and yet seemed keen on growing even more.
"What the-What the hell is that!?" Saito mouthed in disbelief.
Below, on the ground level, Julio's eyes stared at the monstrosity that had been unleashed and couldn't help but laugh aloud. Nearby, a hungry wolf began to move forward towards the source of the delicate smell that filled its nostrils. It growled softly, and then dug its maws sharply into one of the heads of the dead Hydra, only for a tiny wailing sound to echo from the neck itself.
Hydras did not have 'youngs'. Hydras who died merely birthed new Hydras from their necks. For each neck, one Hydra spawn would emerge if not properly burned to ashes.
The wolf had no chance against the hungry swarm of small hydras, but his yelp did attract Julio's attention. Holding his remaining limb forward, he concentrated on the swarm that was advancing towards them.
"By the will of the Founder, I, the Windalfr-I command you, obey my will-"
A Hydra spawn stopped, its tiny head and neck resembling that of a snake, if it weren't for the stocky four legged body with a tail that stood beneath it. The remaining ones didn't care.
Julio had used the ring of Andvari to control far more creatures than he normally could, and right now he was paying the price for it. He had no strength left, and he was sure he had lost enough blood that he was alive only due to sheer will. He couldn't die until he got the Pope to safety. Everything else could wait, but getting his Holiness away from such a carnage-it was the only possible way to-
Their savior came upon white wings, as Julio's dragon -not a familiar, but a trained mount all the same- managed to descend like an angel from the heavens and bare its teeth at the Hydras, slamming its claws at them before turning towards him with a worried look.
Its mouth moved to pull the giant greatsword off them, but in that moment where hope seemed to return, the Gandalfr's runes burned into Julio's vision, and the dragon's neck was neatly severed off its body.
"What is that thing!?" Saito yelled, "What did you create!?"
Julio didn't answer. He simply began to laugh.
So in the end, the demons had won.
So in the end, there would be no crusade.
Up above, flying in the skies, the last of his flock of dragons began to dive into a suicidal descend. He would not allow the Elves to capture them and turn their brains and hearts to nothing but puppets. He would not allow the Elves to capture them, to capture him, to prevent new users of the Void from being born for more than fifty years.
Halkeginia did not have that much time.
The next generation-he hoped they would bring forth the miracle of the Crusades and safeguard humanity.
It was the only way.
"I'll see you in hell," Julio said, his voice peaceful as Saito turned his head upwards just in time to watch the flock descend towards them, maws open to unleash their flames.
Saito gripped the bent iron slab that once was his greatsword, and then roared and screamed as he pulled it off and flung it with everything he had upwards, like a giant boomerang that began to impact and sever across the many dragons with a will of its own. Gasping for air, this time falling down on both knees and with one hand clutching his chest, Saito breathed as deeply as he could.
"You-You just don't want to listen to me-" he gasped. "Look-Nobody has to die-if you'd just listen."
"I know," Julio snarled. "I know of the sick twisted poison of the Elves, but that is no life-"
"No!" Saito yelled back, "That's not what I meant! They're-They're willing to compromise-You just need to stop this crusade! Please-Please believe me!"
Julio simply laughed, and moved his remaining limb back to hug the Pope's frame. "No," Julio said in the end, as softly as he could. "I won't."
Saito rushed forward just in time to pull back Julio's hand from slamming a dagger through the Pope's neck. He managed that, but ended up having his own palm stabbed as he pushed all of his weight in holding down Julio's remaining limb.
"Gah!" Saito screamed, his breathing now coming out labored. "Just why won't you listen properly!?"
"You think someone who has sacrificed so much would listen to the inane drivel of a childish sheltered idiot!?" Julio shot back hotly, "You think after what you did, there's anyone left who'd listen to you!? After everything we've done! After everyone we've killed! You think you have the right way!? Well! Your precious master's sister, you know the one? The one that died? Guess who killed her then! She surrounded herself with animals, nothing easier for the Windalfr! She was eaten alive! She died screaming, on the anniversary of her sister's disappearance!" Julio laughed loudly.
"We couldn't allow the Void to go to someone so weak and frail if Louise died! We couldn't risk her inheriting it!" Julio's teeth were covered in blood, which seemed to seep through his throat. "So I was told to kill her, and I did." He laughed once more, coughing out blood. "Well-Gandalfr or not," Julio exhaled loudly. "What are you going to do? You think our hands are clean? You think you can stop this? How? You barely hold yourself up now. An entire army is defeated, but who'll protect their bodies from the rampaging beasts?"
Julio closed his eyes, exhaling as loudly as he could. "They're all free now. Go have fun, Holy Gandalfr. Go and-"
A blinding white light surrounded the city. It encompassed all, it devoured all, it filled everything and everyone.
Saito exhaled in relief as he heard Julio's last incoherent screaming come less, the young man having gone unconscious. "Took you long enough, Louise," he mumbled.
But when the light faded, when everything seemed to stay still and not move, the earth still quaked.
The large overbearing figure of the golem made of stone and clad in heavy armor still moved.
Its eyes were lifeless embers, but it still moved, and seemed to be drawing closer. It turned the corner and was at the far off end of the road, staring right at Saito. Then, it began to near one step at the time. It brought its right arm backwards, ready to strike down Saito, but smaller wisps of light stretched across the entirety of the golem's frame, and as they detonated with pinpoint precision, Charlotte levitated down from the skies.
Saito exhaled in relief as he fell neatly forward, collapsing against Charlotte's chest as the girl was there to catch him.
She had seen the light before it had begun expanding, and had thus made her way up. Someone would need to explain everything properly once the reinforcements from Tristain arrived.
As it was though, the noise of battle had dropped down to basically nothing. Everything was silent, everyone was asleep. In that silence, there was only the sound of fire burning.
There was peace.
Ironically, it was a peace that smelled thickly of blood.
