#215 smashed her way through the shells of more armadillo Fiends with an extremely powerful kick that probably could have shattered the strongest wall. Hai’s sword glowed with a blue energy and was able to break through the shell of the remaining Fiends, all in a series of strikes that took barely a moment.

“That was really something, Hai!” V called out as the bodies of the Fiends evaporated, “What was that light show from your sword?”

“This sword is a magic weapon,” Hai spoke somewhat proudly, “It is the Blade of Eishin, the weapon of an Ancient.”

“So, you’ve got the weapon of an Ancient without bonding with the Ancient itself?”

“Yes, it’s somewhat common. For whatever reason, an Ancient’s weapon is more often than not contained in a different Dungeon from the Ancient’s Spirit Vessel.”

“Hmm, so you Dungeon Hunter guys basically want to complete the set, is that it?”

“The power of both the weapon and the Ancient become more potent if the wielder is in command of both, yes. However… I will never acquire the Spirit Vessel of Eishin.”

“Never say never, buddy, come on,” V said, “You just have to find the thing!”

“…I already did,” Hai answered, a wry smile dancing on his lips.

“Wait a minute- But you just said you’d never… What?!”

“Eishin is a unique Ancient, wherein he fought with two swords. In one of these swords dwelled the power of raging flame, while the other contained the power of the coursing tides. I told you I used to be part of the Zhion Empire’s army, correct?”

“Yeah, I remember,” V answered, eyes looking intrigued.

“Well, after I left and became a Dungeon Hunter, the former Emperor contacted me once more, asking for my assistance in tracking down the weapons and Spirit Vessel of Eishin. The two of us found and conquered the three Dungeons together.”

“And he gave you one of the swords?”

“Yes, as a token of gratitude for my years of service, or so he said. He was a great man… There was a time where I was at his right hand with the roles of military advisor as well as general.”

“…Impressive. I’m talking to a genuine big shot!”

Hai chuckled, “Not so much now. You see, the Emperor is dead, and his Queen inherited the position, the first time one without the direct blood of the Zhion dynasty has risen to power. She is desperate for all the strength she can amass to deter coups from the inside, which there have been many whispers of, provoked by dissatisfaction with her rule and… Unsavoury rumours about her.”

“So… She’s after the sword, your sword.”

“Yes,” Hai said, “I abandoned my home in the capital immediately after the first assassination attempt.”

“The first one?” V looked at him in disbelief, “There have been more?”

“Many,” Hai admitted, then with a smile added, “But I struck each and every one of them down. Turncoats, the lot of them, serving a false Queen who would likely cast the Zhion honour into the dirt.”

It was then that V laughed in a different way, or at least #215 thought. This laugh seemed to denote genuine mirth rather than sarcasm or putting on a front, “I like it! If those bastards want your sword, they’ll have to prise it from your cold, dead hands is what you’re saying.”

“Correct,” Hai said, before once more returning to his thoughts.

#215 couldn’t shake the feeling that throughout that whole conversation, V may just have been feigning ignorance and knew a lot more than he let on about the Zhion Empire and about Hai himself.

But how could that be? This is their first meeting…

The distinct lack of a reaction from V and his talent at reading thoughts almost served more as a confirmation of her feeling than a denial.

*

“AAAAAAAARGH!” Auros’ pain had started again after a brief recess, and the screams grew more intense than ever, this time with Kydan otherwise engaged, so no reassuring voice was there to encourage him through it.

At least I can still feel pain, he thought to himself, Where’s the lad, though? Hopefully he hasn’t gotten into some kind of trouble. I swear, I leave him alone because of potentially fatal poison for five minutes…

But he knew it had been much longer than that since the poisoning incident, and was racked with guilt at the fact that he had slowed Kydan down at practically the first hurdle.

Damn it, Kydan, I’m sorry… I hope… You abandoned me here and went on. Hell, maybe you’ve gotten the Spirit Vessel already…

These thoughts, and the agony unlike which he’d ever felt before in his eleven months of memory, continued for again, an indeterminate amount of time, and it got to the point where Auros was sure death was but a few moments away…

…Until the pain ebbed away like ripples in a pond, gone as suddenly as it had arrived.

“Am I… A ghost?” Auros desperately pawed at the ground and was happy to feel a rock in his hand.

I… I’m not dead!

A grin spread across his face, “Kydan, you wonderful kid, you cured me! Ah… Wait a minute…”

The pain had driven him to distraction, so much so that he’d forgotten that Kydan wasn’t there.

“Just my luck- I take so long to shake off that damn poison, that the lad cut his losses and went on without me! Damn it, Auros, right when you’d finally gone and made a friend…”

This soliloquy was broken by the sound of a pained shout, coming from far into the adjacent cave. Auros stood up immediately, suddenly alert.

That was… Kydan! Of course, lad, I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!

He shook his head and gathered his wits. His friend needed him, and like that friend, Auros wasn’t the type of man who’d abandon a friend to some manner of painful death- At least, he hoped he wasn’t…

*

Fighting fire with fire was proving difficult for Kydan, and the beast’s scaled body seemed to resist flame altogether.

Damn it! Just my luck to be fighting this thing without Auros, he thought scathingly, I need a plan, or I’m literally toast.

The beast shrieked, and hurled yet another fireball from its hand. Kydan rolled on the ground away from it, before firing off another of his own.

“Flaming Burst!”

The fireball from the Dagger of Sakhtras collided with the second fireball the gargoyle had already launched, and for a moment Kydan lost track of the Fiend thanks to the smoke from the resounding blast that ensued.

Kydan remembered that the Fiend hadn’t even taken any notice of Auros’ unconscious body. Sure, he’d been in an alcove, but Auros was still more or less in plain sight at the time.

This thing doesn’t seem to see very well through those weird fire eyes… Maybe I can…

He tried his best to navigate the slowly-clearing smoke cloud and follow the Fiend’s roars of frustration, his job getting easier as the dust settled, but the fiend was still looking all around it…

…Except for behind. Kydan seized his opportunity to strike as soon as he was sure the Fiend hadn’t yet found him once more.

He leaped onto its back, grabbing on for dear life. Immediately, the Fiend started to shake and try to reach behind its back, baying like a distressed animal.

Kydan plunged his dagger into the creature’s back, pushing it as far and as hard as he could, and to his surprise, black blood started to seep from a newly created dent in the scaled armour of the beast.

The gargoyle’s wings slapped against Kydan’s head as the beast took off into flight, although it couldn’t go very far since the ceiling of the round room wasn’t very high. Instead it began flying in a wide circle, gaining speed. Kydan’s hair blew about as he clung on desperately, continuing to stab through the freshly-created wound. The beast’s roars continued, getting more and more unsettling, and Kydan knew that the creature’s inner skin wasn’t as flameproof as the outer layer.

Need to hold on! Kydan’s grip almost failed him as the beast gained even more speed, the screams being the only sign that it was actually in any pain. The creature still flew masterfully.

The Fiend had been lashing out with its tail, but so far Kydan had been able to manoeuvre himself quickly to avoid each strike, hanging off the sides of the back where a blind spot seemed to be…

…But of course, eventually his reflexes grew slow as he had been hanging on for dear life for a long time now, stabbing away with as much force as he could. A significant portion of the scales on the Fiend’s back were now discarded to the ground, and the beast grew angrier, if that had even been possible.

A furious strike of the tail struck Kydan’s left side, and despite his best efforts, the boy fell with extreme force, landing on the stone floor.

He lay there for a minute on his back, feeling blood immediately start to seep from the back of his head.

Shit… he thought, This isn’t good… What now?

He tried to pick himself back up as quickly as he could, dizziness hitting him as soon as he began trying. He fell back to the ground with a grunt.

The Fiend had landed and was now a few feet away, looming over him. Mercy from a thing like that was impossible- Fiends were born into existence for one purpose, to kill.

Urgh… So much for the Dungeon Hunter… Killed in pursuit of a Spirit Vessel… Maybe those things really are just for the big-shot world leaders, after all…

The creature grabbed him by the neck and picked him up, swinging him around like a ragdoll. Kydan instinctively knew what was about to come next…

He was already bleeding and aching, but now he could barely breathe too, thanks to the death grip the Fiend had him in. The Fiend then let go of him forcefully, and once again Kydan smashed into hard stone, this time of the wall with those strange symbols on them.

“Just… Finish me off… You stupid monster,” Kydan’s speech was slurred and his vision swam. He could just barely make out the creature coming towards him slowly once more, a glowing fireball materialising in its hand…

…But the fireball would never make it out of its hand. Kydan’s vision focused a bit more until he could make out the scene- The deafening roar of the Fiend brought him slightly back into reality.

The fire in its eyes had faded and the creature didn’t move. Dark blood now splattered the stone floor next to where Kydan lay.

A huge spear of ice had impaled the creature from behind.

N-No way…

When the creature evaporated like all Fiends did upon death, Kydan grinned widely when he saw the Fiend’s slayer.

“You’re looking a little bit worse for wear, lad,” Auros walked over to him and offered his hand to help Kydan up. Kydan gratefully took it. The white haired man gave him a warm smile.

“Auros, you’re… I thought you were…”

“No poxy poison could take down a great magic-wielding bard such as I!” Auros blustered, then his smile turned sincere, “In all seriousness… I owe you my life.”

“Consider the debt repaid,” Kydan smiled, before throwing his arms around the bard.

“Lad, what are you…?” Auros looked puzzled for a moment, before reciprocating the embrace.

“I’d be much happier to be entangled in an embrace with some fair lady right about now,” Auros admitted, “But I suppose the embrace of a friend is just as good.”

Kydan broke off the hug, “S-Sorry, I’m just… I’m so glad you’re not dead…”

Auros laughed, “I am too, lad. It’s all thanks to you.”

For the first time, Auros noticed the tears that were freely flowing from the lad’s bright blue eyes.

With how capable he is, and how he avoids talking about his troubles most of the time, you’d forget this Dungeon Hunter… Was still just a seventeen-year-old boy, at the end of the day… Hell, he probably needed a friend as much as I did, having cast out on his own so young…

At so young, this lad had been through a lot, losing his home as he had, and presumably a lot of loved ones. Auros silently vowed to devote himself from then on to helping Kydan achieve his goals, even beyond this Dungeon.

Besides, any young man needs a strong and capable role model. Sure, most role models like that probably have all their memories intact, but… I guess I’ll have to do.

*

Kydan had applied a different ointment, this time a general healing one, to the head wound he sustained. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as deep as he’d expected, but it still hurt badly. The dizziness had worn off surprisingly quick, as well, and Kydan was more or less fighting fit, or at least as much so as he could bring himself to be in as little time.

Auros, too, had been seen to, with Kydan bandaging up the wound on his hand.

“Thank the Gods,” Auros said, “I feared I might lose my hand, and never play a song again!”

Kydan laughed, “Losing a hand would’ve been the least of your worries if that antidote hadn’t worked.”

I guess it really does work on all poisons then… Good to know.

When they had recuperated for a bit, Auros was the first to stand.

“Shall we?” He looked to his companion.

Kydan looked concerned, “You sure you’re alright? I don’t want you collapsing on me again, this time from the blood loss…”

“Ah, I’ll be fine, lad. Life threatening situations like that build character.”

“You can’t build character if you’re a dead man,” Kydan reminded him.

“True, I suppose,” Auros replied, “But anyway, it’s true, I’m back to full strength. Any Fiend here need give us a wide berth or they’ll end up like that blasted winged thing I killed so valiantly.”

Kydan chuckled, “Let me guess, when we’re out of here, you’re going to write a song about that, too?”

“Of course, lad,” Auros said, “What other bard can say they’ve slain a terrifying Fiend inside a perilous Dungeon? None, says I! Now, let’s move, before old Lendras closes in on that Spirit Vessel…”

And so, the duo set off again, down the next pathway, with no idea what lay ahead, and only the Dagger of Sakhtras’ light to guide them…