Streaks of fresh crimson sputtered from Izadura’s lips as he smashed through the wall of a village home, tumbling head over heels from the strike which had sent him flying.

“Iza!”

Kotomi cried out, genuine panic in her voice as her partner vanished into a mess of splintered wood. Something had happened, something she wasn’t able to trace. It was clearly arcane, yet her [Wizard’s Eye] could not detect it, which implied it was not sourced by an art; But whatever it was, it had sent their monstrous enemy into a frenzy. The golem’s muscles pulsated and surged, filled with fresh power and raw anger, amplifying its combat ability to a level that Izadura could not actively match.

Despite catching the monster’s attack in a crossed guard, it had not been enough to stop him from being thrown like a doll. The creature did not let up, leaping into the air and smashing down upon the structure into which the swordsman had been thrown with its hands clasped together like a hammer as it obliterated everything beneath it.

In the moments before impact, a blurred outline of Izadura streaked from the wreckage as the swordsman activated [Mirage Step], his true self narrowly escaping death as his after-images were struck. Panting heavily, his outline fading back into a solid line, he backed away from the decimated structure and took up his defensive stance.

From the depths of the rubble the remains of a support pillar came hurtling out like a bullet, barely allowing Izadura the split second to evade. Just as the swordsman swept around the first projectile, a second came for him, this time to be stopped by a wave of ice which snapped upwards to lock it in place before it could take off his head.

Izadura didn’t even have time to think the words ‘thank you’ to his partner before the Elder was rushing him, exploding from the interior of the destroyed house and bearing down on his position with violent furor. Crashing through the small formation of ice, it ignored the blades of wind which Kotomi hailed down upon it from above. Blood spurted from its lacerated shoulders and back as [Air Cutter] slit thin lines acrost its flesh, but the creature closed the gap on Izadura and swung with all its might. The Kyotan warrior held his ground tightly, weaving below the strike and cutting outwards twice with his pugilist style weapons.

Unphased, the Elder reeled on the backswing to attack yet again. Izadura circled his opponent rapidly, holding his forearms in contact with the creature’s upper thigh as he spun to its back. With the established touch, he read the Elder’s next oncoming attacks, maneuvering around each blow with absolute efficiency of movement, never any lower or higher than was necessary.

The intensive focus necessary to avoid death in close quarters meant that the Kyotan was afforded no window for offensive measures or retaliation, but as he held the creature’s attention Kotomi continued her arts bombardment in full force. [Air Cutter] and [Frigid Needle] rained down upon the Elder, piercing and slicing through sinew and muscle. Yet for all the apparent surface-level damage the creature did not appear to slow.

Eventually Izadura was forced back, as the Elder flailed in rage and swept itself around to rake the earth in a 360° attack, leaving the swordsman no option but to leap away. The Elder doubled on him quickly, swinging in a furious combination attack faster than he could respond. Narrowly deflecting the first blow, the second knocked Izadura off his feet, and the third threw him acrost the battlefield until he rolled to a stop.

Immediately his arms went to the ground, trembling as he tried to push himself up. Blood seeped from various points of wounding all along his body as his elbows buckled and gave out, bringing his chest back down to the earth. A shadow loomed over him as he fell, distorted by the flickering torches in the dying moonlight, and his eyes hardened in rueful acknowledgement. The Elder stood above him like a hulking monument of flesh, a cruel grin on its distorted face as it raised its arms to crush him into the dirt.

Izadura tried to force himself to roll, but it was no use. He could see the muscles twitch in the Elder’s shoulders as the attack began its descent. Although his vision and thoughts could keep up with the motion, his body could not, and he knew for certain it would strike him. Still, he kept his eyes open, facing down the shadow of his death.

I am sorry, Kotomi..

Cut the drama and move!

At the corners of the Elder’s wrists, the translucent shimmer of water surged forward in tendrils and snapped tightly into bonds. The [Aqua Whips] were not enough to halt the attack, but pulled against the motion and redirected it to the side with a violent jerk. The offset narrowly provided the opening Izadura needed to escape impact, rolling himself fully away from the Elder’s fists, though the shockwave through the ground itself still threw him several feet back.

Screaming with outrage, the hulking abomination turned its attention angrily towards Kotomi, eyes glinting in the waning torchlight. Reaching for a portion of rock and rubble, the creature suddenly lurched forward as a burst of Arcana ripped through its upper shoulder.

“Izadura! Kotomi!”

Argent called out to his friends as he emerged from the upper alleys of the town, looking more like a homeless vagrant than their classmate. His tufted white hair was a mess of blood, both caked and fresh, as he stood dressed in nothing more than bandages and his tattered pants; but his emerald eyes shone with a depth of force as he squared against the Elder. Izadura, however, looked up at him in alarm rather than relief. Before Argent could get a read on the situation, the Elder lurched around and hurled the rocks meant for Kotomi now at the alchemist instead. Argent froze in place, barely able to perceive the blur of stone on course to end him.

A burst of wind knocked him to the side and sent him tumbling, as Kotomi leapt from rooftop to rooftop and struck him sidelong with [Gale]. The ball of pressurized air was an unpleasant thing to be hit by, but it was a far better option than the rocks it had saved him from. Sputtering as he rolled to a stop, Argent looked up in alarm as it began to register just how dangerous this creature was. He had acted on impulse after coming across the combat and seeing Izadura in dire condition, but now against an opponent like this, he wondered if he would become more of a hindrance than a help.

He watched in muted horror as the wounds his [Manabolt] had inflicted upon the creature squirmed and squelched, regenerating in a mass of flesh. The monster stared at him with glowing eyes, its breath a fog upon the air as it exhaled in forceful bursts. It was hunched like an animal ready to charge, knees bent deep as its large feet broke the earth, which seemed to rot away beneath its very touch.

The sensation of his own weight being lifted away washed over Argent as a faint green glow overtook his body, courtesy of Kotomi’s [Aerodynamics] buff. Gratitude filled his chest as he entertained the thought that with this, he actually stood a chance to evade an attack from the golem. As the Elder roared, he readied himself to dodge– but before either of them could move Izadura spun from the shadows and came crashing acrost the golem’s face in a merciless punch. The swordsman’s body also bore the faint glow of wind enhancement, Kotomi’s arts granting him both speed and precision as he struck. The golem’s jaw clenched and then shifted beneath the weight of the strike, as the bones beneath shattered and tore askew.

Izadura darted quickly in a backstep before the creature could retaliate, and Argent took it as his opportunity to do more than idly watch. Raising his palm, he reached inwards and manifested his mirroring technique to produce [Manabolt] in a series of flashes. The energy struck deep and ripped holes through the golem’s flesh, though it did not penetrate its body fully. Again the monster’s flesh twisted and formed, and Argent’s mind was brought back to the wall of wolves. The way the flesh had tangled and regenerated endlessly so long as it was rooted to the earth.

"Get away from here, Argent."

"..No."

His eyes swept the battlefield as it registered, the dead grass and tainted soil. It was more than simple corruption or contamination from the blood and presence of the creature, it was a literal breakdown of the natural matter caused by the siphoning of its life-force. It was the same magic, the same ritual, whatever it was. Old and angry. Tied to the forest.

"No. I can help you. We have to separate it from the ground."

Izadura looked at him with the smallest glance.

"The ground. It draws out life-force through the ground-- It can’t regenerate if it isn’t touching the earth."

“Did you get that, Kotomi?”

“Absolutely!”

“Can you do it?”

“Do you have to ask?”

“Mm. I will draw it in. Argent? Stay clear, wait for your opening.”

No sooner than Izadura had spoken the words did they become relevant, as the golem regenerated itself enough to go on the offensive once more. It pounced towards the boys like a predatory cat, but [Aerodynamics] enabled the alchemist to shift out of the threat zone quickly and cleanly as Izadura met the creature head on. Engaging it once again with his defensive techniques, flowing around attacks and pinning himself to the creature’s back as they circled one another in a vie for dominance.

As the skirmish dragged on, tangles of water almost undetectable spanned the battlefield and wrapped themselves in knots around the Elder’s ankles. Loose enough so as to not hinder his movements, but building the foundation for what was to come. In the midst of their conflict, Izadura manufactured the window he needed. He had learned enough of the Elder’s enraged movements to sense what was to come, and in the seconds before the golem could sense the change of energy in their battle it was already too late.

[Aqua Whips] cinched tight around the Elder’s legs as Izadura stepped back and carried his momentum into a powerful stance, power rising through his core.

“Kyotan fourth style; Mortal Silence~ [Wolf-God’s Paw]!”

He unleashed the technique with an open hand, slamming the flat of his palm into the height of the creature’s sternum and sending it topping over as the force of the blow was taken in combination with the tripping pressure of the water beneath. As the Elder began to fall, the water surged and then spiked upwards from beneath, cascading into a pillar which hardened into a solid spear of ice. The jagged tower of cold pierced the golem through its center and lifted it off the ground by several feet, holding it there as it roared.

If that wasn’t his opening, Argent didn’t know what was. He readied his arts, touching the aether and bringing forth as many casts of [Manabolt] as he could without bringing himself to capacity. He focused the assault on the creature’s arms, aiming to cripple it and prevent it from taking action to twist or break the ice and bring itself back to the earth.

“Kotomi!”

“Ahead of you!”

Shifting forms with a glimmer, Kotomi returned to her place as Izadura’s blade in the moment that he reached out his hand for her. Reading his intentions perfectly, the two were in sync as he grasped her hilt and brought himself low in preparation for a leaping strike. Kicking off into a flip and drawing the weapon his partner had become, he unleashed [Flashing Fang] in a singular arc centered on the Golem’s neck.

The Elder’s head separated from his body in a spurt of gore, blood gushing down the pillar of ice and leaking into the drained soil beneath. All three members of class X13 watched in apprehension as the body of the monstrous being sputtered and flailed even as its head was separated, contorting upon itself in wild spasms.

Argent stared in disbelief as the golem shrank, reducing in size until only the grotesquely twisted form of a man remained. His eyes wandered slowly acrost the blood stained dirt to find the head of the creature, widening as the lifeless face of Brandubh met his gaze.

“Wh.. Why? Why is the Elder..?”

While the reversion to its prior form was no shock to Izadura and Kotomi, the alchemist had no idea what the monster they were facing down had originated from. That it had once been the Elder. His stomach clenched tightly as he stepped back from the spot where Brandubh’s decapitated visage rolled to a stop several feet away.

“What.. Happened? What the hell happened?!”

Izadura raised a hand in gesture for Argent to steady himself, but before any explanation could be given a high pitch scream interrupted from behind them. Argent’s belongings dropped to the ground as Julie raised her hands to her mouth in horror. He had sent her ahead to gather his equipment from the shop when they had first encountered the transpiring conflict.

“Julie! Don’t look!”

Argent shouted, stepping out in front of her and raising an arm to cover her gaze, even though he knew full well the damage had been done.

“Elder Brandubh! That’s the Elder!”

She cried, pointing beneath Argent’s arms as he struggled to keep her from pushing past him.

“What have you done?!”

“Julie, please wait-”

“What have you done to our village?! Why is this happening?”

“Stop, please. You know it isn’t like that, we’re trying to help you!”

The words rang true, and Julie knew that he was right. But her anger and hurt still needed someplace to go. Her lower lip trembled as she bit it, pushing out against him with balled fists which she slammed against his chest.

“You’re not trying hard enough!”

Argent flinched under the pressure of her gaze and the fire in her words.

“Everything started going wrong once you showed up.. Everything!”

“I-i.. Hey now..”

“You were supposed to protect us! Supposed to clear out the jellycaps and help the town! We were counting on you!”

She stepped forward and slammed his chest again, breaking into sobs.

“Instead you went and pissed off some witch and got our village destroyed! Why did you have to do that?! Nobody asked you to! Now the Elder is dead, the town is burning, I don’t.. I don’t even know.. Where my sister is..”

The group stood in silence as Julie slumped down to her knees, crying haplessly into her hands as the emotions welled inside her. Argent tried not to take it personally, but her words stung deep inside his chest. A twinge of guilt. Was she right, on some level? Had they caused this by their actions?

We undoubtedly did… But.. It had to be done, didn't it?

He asked himself the question. All of these events made it clear that some greater evil had been lurking in the depths of the town for quite some time. Their arrival had, without question, set in motion the chain of events which had caused the current spiral… But was that not better than whatever might have come later? What would have befallen the people if things had played out in full? Would it have been better or worse?

Should we have left it alone? ..Should we have.. Done nothing?

The thoughts swirled, mixed with the sounds of Julie’s sobs. What had been the motivation behind it all? Why had he taken the path that he had? Was it truly out of altruism, or.. Was it because he wanted to do it. Because he had wanted answers, wanted information, wanted to play the role of an adventurer facing down a threat. Had he even considered the ultimate effects their conflict stood to bring down on the village? He could justify it a hundred ways, not the least of which being the fact that Kotomi and Izadura would have certainly slain the witch even had he and Gauge not gotten involved. There was no end to the excuses he could use to articulate his case, and yet; deep inside he knew. He had not once considered the long-term effects of what they were doing.

In his mind he had been acting purely for the benefit of the people involved. To purge the forest of corruption and help the village… But he hadn’t dug deep enough. Hadn’t known what was inside the box before he opened it, and unleashed hell upon the world around him.

“Julie, I..”

The girl turned her head away from him, and he stopped his sentence short. Frowning, he looked to Izadura and Kotomi, who had returned to her human form and stood with her arms crossed beside her partner. The two of them shook their head in quiet resignation, indicating for Argent to leave it. The alchemist sighed heavily, pain weighing on his chest. Turning away from Julie, he reclaimed his gear and dressed himself.

“We have to find the half-elf, Teo. He’s the one pulling the strings.”

“Half-elf?”

Izadura questioned, turning his gaze to Kotomi. The girl shook her head.

“There was no half-elf in this village.”

“What? He was the right hand man to the Elder, he said his family has been in this forest for generations.”

“The man with green hair?”

“Yes. Teo.”

“..He introduced himself as a half-elf?”

Argent paused, having to think. Had that ever been directly expressed, or had he just assumed?

“Argent, that man is a sylvan.”

“Okay, so? What difference does that.. Make..”

It made a lot of difference. Not towards their current situation, but in filling out the empty pieces missing from their puzzle. Sylvans were rare, still categorized as true Fae despite their demi-human characteristics. The Jellycaps, the Faewitch, the forest itself. Domination, charm, and sleeping arts. His bonds to the forest. Everything began to fall in line aside from an ultimate motive… But Argent could make an assumption, at this point. And it wasn’t comforting.

“..Fuck.”

“Figured it all out, have we? Very clever. Annoyingly clever.”

All heads in the square turned to face the new voice, as Teo emerged partially from the shadows, his face stained with blood as he sneered. Argent’s hand went for his pistol as Kotomi shifted back into weaponoid form in Izadura’s grasp.

“Ah, that’s quite enough of that.”

Teo snapped as he pulled a figure from the dark, positioning them in front of himself. The light revealed it to be Eophi, her body half limp and her eyes dead like a fish. She seemed barely lucid, unresponsive to the situation and the dagger held at her neck. Argent felt his teeth grind together as his jaw involuntarily clenched, his hand frozen in place halfway to his pistol's grip.

“Don’t you even THINK about it! If you move an inch, I’ll cut this girl’s throat, and bring the entire village down on you.”

The edge of his ritual knife glinted menacingly as he angled it towards Eophi, small currents of blood still lingering upon its length from previous uses.

"I'm afraid it's time for you to leave."