Chapter 16: Kill the Imposter

“Hey, wake up Cerien.” A voice woke Cerien up. He got up and saw that Slei was getting ready. Slei must have returned to the room while he was asleep. Cerien noticed that Kjorn wasn’t around.

“Slei. Where’s Kjorn?”

“Oh. Him? He has his own place by his shop. It’s not big enough to house the two of us though.” Slei pointed at the gauntlets next to Cerien’s bed.

“I see that Kjorn gave you his gift. Nice, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I was surprised at how quickly he had made it.”

“Well, he worked on it while you were passed out. You were out for an entire day. The whole time you had a fever. I stayed by your side to make sure you didn’t get any worse.”

“The entire day? Wow. I thought I was out for a few hours, not an entire day. Sorry for the inconvenience. Oh and thanks for the clothes.”

“Heh no problem. Anyways, get ready. The King himself is going to give a speech today. We’re going to see it.”

Cerien nodded and got out of his bed. He donned his gauntlets and his cloak.

“Alright let’s go.”

* * *

In the city plaza, a massive crowd had gathered. After all, the King himself had come down from the capital to talk to the citizens of Lombania. On the platform in the middle of the plaza, the King himself stood ready. Royal guards stood around him. Guards surrounded the platform, stopping anyone from coming too close.

Once there was a substantial amount of people attending, the King walked up the front of the platform.

“Good morning, citizens of the great city of Lombania. It is my honor and my joy to come visit this glorious city. Recently, the demons had attacked a class of students from the Combat Academy in the Grimwoods. Due to the strength and bravery of two certain individuals, there was only one casualty. And miraculously, even this one casualty managed to come back unharmed. Today, I would like to honor these individuals for their achievements. Firstly, Latens Monaco, a Professor of the Academy. A veteran spellblade of the 13th Squad. This is not the first time that I have personally awarded Latens. His bravery and ability was constantly proven throughout his career and even now. Latens fought off the demons by himself. A brave feat that requires praise. Please, come up.”

Professor Monaco walked up to the King. He went down on one knee and bent his neck. The King placed a brilliant, golden medal. It was similar to the one from the previous celebration, but much more shiny and ornate.

Then the King turned back towards the crowd.

“When the demons attacked, apparently there was one casualty, a student named Kuren Sain. He had fallen into a chasm, his chances of survival thought to be none. However! He proved all of us wrong and climbed from the depths of hell to come back to Lombania! Persistence and determination. These values are what define an exemplar student of the Combat Academy. These values are what Kuren possess. Please, come up.”

Kuren came up with a smile on his face. He accepted the medal and stood next to Monaco.

“And our last award. She is not a citizen of Lombania, but a girl belonging to the Seekers. Yet, she still defeated one of the demons singlehandedly. Such power and she used it to save the students of the Academy. Without a doubt, her power and honor needs to be awarded. Please come up, Rai.”

The King finished. However, as the crowd clapped, no one came forward. Murmurs of confusion ran through the crowd as no one showed up. Suddenly Kuren walked up to the King.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry, but it seems that Rai is still in her room. I will go and bring her at once.”

The King nodded and waved Kuren away.

“Well, it seems that Rai is unavailable currently. No matter. I will hand her the award later. Anyways, the citizens of Lombania have made me proud. Unfortunately, there is another matter that I have come to discuss. A few days ago, after the attack in Grimwoods, there was another attack. The quiet, peaceful town of Stekon was burned down.”

The crowd’s cheering stopped. There was a palpable silence in the air.

“The culprits…the elves and the demons on a joint effort attacked Stekon. They left no survivors.” The King’s voice shook with anger. “I have come to Lombania today for an important reason. Our nation has not entered a major war for more than century. But the attacks that have occurred on our people cannot be excused. I simply cannot overlook such blatant acts of savagery and brutality. People of Lombania! I come here today! To call upon your might! The military city of Lombania is the pride of our empire! With the strength of Lombania supporting us, victory is ensured. Today! Let it be known! I declare war on the elves and demons!”

The crowd erupted into applause and yelling. A frenzy took over the people. Feelings of hatred rose towards the elves and demons.

When the King finished, Kuren had slipped away, running into one of the nearby alleys. Unnoticed, a cloaked figure quickly left the crowd and followed Kuren.

* * *

Cerien dashed through the streets after the other boy. Why was he doing this? Didn’t he say that the imposter had nothing to do with him?

He gritted his teeth. Even if he said that, something inside him yearned for it. Something inside was screaming to kill that boy. Whenever Cerien looked at Kuren, something inside his chest burned. The burning sensation grew stronger.

He pushed his thoughts out of his head. He wasn’t doing it for the real Kuren in that white world. He was doing for it himself. He wanted to get rid of this burning feeling inside his chest. Yes, that was it, he assured himself. Cerien picked up his speed and ran after Kuren towards the Academy.

As they reached the main gates, there were no guards to stop them. It seems that they were all attending the ceremony. Perfect, no one would stop Cerien from entering this time.

Kuren still hadn’t noticed him, so that meant Cerien had the element of surprise. That meant Cerien would be easily able to kill the boy. Kuren entered one of the buildings. Cerien was about to enter, when suddenly he heard a voice. A voice that was filled with menace.

“[Ventus Adtono]!” A sudden blast of wind hit Cerien from the side. The gust sent his cloak flying away. He was lifted off his feet and sent flying. He hit the ground a few feet away, rolling to a stop. He quickly got up and saw a girl wielding a long rapier facing him.

“Hey there. I couldn’t help but notice…that you were sprinting after my dear friend. Wearing that cloak, you looked quite suspicious. And now with that cloak off…you still look quite suspicious.” The girl remarked, looking at Cerien’s red eyes and black hair. The tone in her voice was cold. Her face was emotionless and rigid.

Cerien didn’t say anything. He was at a loss for words. The scar on his chest felt like it was going to rip itself apart. The girl in front of him, he had seen her before. Her long, flowing black hair. Piercing, blue eyes. Her face had been burned into his memory. He remembered the girl. And her name.

“Melodi.”

Before he could stop himself, he said her name out loud. The girl opened her eyes with shock and stepped back.

“H-How do you know me?” She shook her head. “No. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care who you are. State your reason for following Kuren. Or else I will make you.”

“My reason?” Cerien regained his thoughts and stopped to think a little. “Well, I guess. To kill him.”

Before Cerien could say anything else, Melodi’s rapier thrusted towards his face. Cerien quickly rolled to the side, dodging the girl’s thrust.

“You wish to kill him? Well that makes things complicated. Because I don’t want Kuren dead. Oh, but maybe things are actually a little simpler.” Melodi paused and pointed her rapier at Cerien again. “Because I’ll just kill you first.”

“[Ventus Celero]!” She chanted. A gray jewel in her sword glowed. The wind gathered around her. She quickly dashed towards Cerien.

Cerien awkwardly blocked her thrust with his gauntlets. He was not ready for Melodi’s massively increased speed. She quickly followed up with several slashes. Cerien stepped out the way of the first two slashes, but the third was too quick. He blocked it with his arms.

Melodi drew her rapier back and chanted, “[Ventus Perfodio]!” The wind gathered and concentrated around her rapier as she thrusted it towards Cerien. Cerien felt a dangerous aura gathering around the rapier. He sidestepped, narrowly dodging the incoming thrust.

The wind gathered around the sword left the blade and thrusted towards Cerien’s previous location. It kept on going towards the wall. Cerien’s eyes widened as the wind hit the wall. The thrust pierced the wall completely, leaving a hole. If Cerien had tried to block that…he might have lost his arms.

The jewel in Melodi’s rapier shone bright, but her breath was getting heavier by the second. The constant magic was draining her of her mana.

Cerien was not in much better shape. The constant barrages of the wind cut him in multiple places. Not only that, his gauntlets were extremely hot. The runes on the back on the hands were glowing a dim red. It was uncomfortably hot, almost to the point of burning his skin.

Melodi gritted her teeth as she drew her rapier again. She thrusted her blade. This time, Cerien was ready. He ducked and leaped forward, leading with his right shoulder. His shoulder slammed into Melodi’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She let go of her rapier as she fell backwards.

She lay there on the ground, when Cerien stood over her, his right hand raised high. He unsheathed his claws, slipping through the slots in his gauntlets. Just as he was going to bring down those claws on her, he suddenly gripped his chest.

The pain in his chest grew stronger. The scar on his chest throbbed painfully. Melodi recovered her breath and kicked Cerien away. She quickly grabbed her rapier from the ground and rushed towards Cerien.

Cerien tried to get up, but Melodi stabbed him in the chest before he could. He coughed up blood, splattering it onto Melodi. She kicked him in the chest, taking her rapier out in one smooth motion. Cerien fell back, blood seeping from his open wound. She had punctured his right lung, making him choke on his own blood.

He put his hands on the ground. He lay there on all fours, coughing up blood onto the ground. He looked up and saw Melodi walking towards him.

It was strange. The entire time, her face had been cold and emotionless, like she was wearing a mask. But now, she seemed unhinged. The blood splattered on her face painted a surreal image. Her lips were curled upwards. On her face, there was a twisted smile. A cruel smile that seemed so familiar to Cerien. She was enjoying this. Every moment. Every time her blade cut into his flesh, her smile would grow wider. It was breathtaking, watching her face come alive with such emotion just from cutting Cerien apart.

With a perverse smile on her face, she thrusted her rapier towards Cerien’s head. He started at his incoming doom, unable to look away.

A flash of metal blinded him. When his eyesight returned, a familiar figure was standing in front of him.

“Jeez, Cerien. You run away for just a moment, and you’re already trying to pick up a girl.” Slei’s words were quite light and humorous, but his face was impassive. He stared at Melodi with a blank look.

“Shut up, Slei. I’m really not in the mood for your jokes right now.”

“Wow. You sound just like Kjorn, with that grumpy attitude. Hmph. Get out of here, Cerien.”

Cerien shook his head. “Sorry, but I have to take care of something.” And with that, he activated [Rapid Regeneration].” He felt the energy and mana being expended in his body, as his wounds began to heal themselves. With a grunt, he picked himself up and ran towards the building that Kuren had entered, leaving Slei and Melodi behind.

* * *

It was strange. Ever since she had returned from Grimwoods, Melodi felt like she was empty. She wandered from class to class, her face an impassive mask. She didn’t feel any joy or sadness. She didn’t feel any emotion at all. She just felt cold inside. When Kuren had amazingly returned from Grimwoods, she actually felt happy. Or at least, that’s what she told herself.

But when she looked at Kuren, she still felt that emptiness inside of her. It seemed that she was doomed to never smile again. And the worst thing was that she didn’t even care inside.

When she saw a cloaked stranger run after Kuren in the streets, she intercepted the stranger to stop him. When she knocked the cloak away, she saw the boy underneath. And she felt strange. Something inside her felt warm.

As she fought the boy, she felt the thrill of the fight like never before. Her cold mask began to break. As she swung and thrusted her rapier, she couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. When her rapier stabbed into his flesh, her mask broke away. She didn’t even realize it, but a manic smile had broken out on her face. The expression on her face was completely twisted, intoxicated off the high of cutting this boy’s body apart.

Melodi had sparred with other students. She had killed magic beasts before. But she had never felt this sort of elation before. Something inside her awakened. She relished in the pain and torment on this boy in front of her. The warm feeling that had appeared inside her when she saw the boy grew hot. The coldness she felt melted away, replaced with a comforting sense of familiarity.

As she stabbed and slashed at the boy, the boy tried to block and dodge. But he couldn’t defend against all of them. Her rapier cut his body, ripping his clothes. Soon, his chest was ripped apart, a hole in the middle of it.

Even in the middle of the battle, Melodi’s eyes were drawn towards the boy’s chest, right where his heart was.

Right there was a scar in a peculiar shape. It looked like the initials M.A. When she saw that, she felt confused. But she instantly understood. Why it felt so pleasurable. Why it felt so familiar. Why she was breaking out into an uncontrollable smile. That boy was HERS.

Melodi didn’t want this fight to ever end.

But now this man was standing in front of her. And the boy had ran away.

The smile on her face disappeared. She was going to let it end here. She raised her rapier once more. The man drew his sword and faced her.

* * *

Cerien ran through the building. It looked like a dorm of some sorts. He looked into each room, but they were all empty. He quickly rushed towards the stairs. The whole time, the heat in his gauntlets felt like they were burning his skin. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

When he got to the second floor, he heard a muffled scream at the end of the hallway. He ran towards the source of that scream. He saw a closed door. The source must be behind the door. He quickly kicked down the door and entered the room.

What he saw wasn’t what he quite expected. He had found Kuren. He was standing over the corpse of a girl lying on the ground. There was a gaping hole in her chest. The corpse was lying in a pool of blood. Kuren turned towards Cerien.

“I-I just got here. I just wanted to get Rai to the ceremony. B-But when I got here…she was like this!” Kuren’s voice was shaking with fear and dismay. Cerien stared at the boy. Something inside his chest beat painfully. He clenched his teeth. The only way he was getting rid of this pain if he killed that imposter.

“Die, you fake.”

Kuren’s eyes widened in shock and he took a step back in surprise. Cerien sent a [Fire Ball] at Kuren, but he dodged.

“Hey, was that raw magic? Woah! And wait a minute! At least listen to my story before you go and try to kill me!” Kuren’s attitude had changed. His tone was mocking and amused. “Oh hey. You were the guy who kept on following me when I ran here. Hmm. Ah, I see.” Kuren grinned.

“You knew from the start. That I was a fake.”

“Shut up.” Cerien snarled. He charged at the other boy, ready to slash him.

Kuren’s grin grew wider. He pointed his palm at the incoming boy.

“Hey. This is a real [Fire Ball].” A great ball of fire formed in Kuren’s hand. It shot towards Cerien with blazing speed. Cerien had no time to dodge. He put his arms in front of him, using the gauntlets to block the projectile. The impact sent him flying backwards towards the wall. He coughed up blood as his ribs broke from the collision. His gauntlets had taken most of the blow, but the heat in them had grew immensely. The runes shone bright red. The heat had gone beyond burning. It didn’t even feel hot anymore. Cerien just felt an indescribable amount of pain. His mind was going blank.

He was going to lose consciousness real quick. Was this the present that Kjorn had planned on giving him? These gauntlets were going to be the death of him. His vision dimming, Cerien saw a blurry image of Kuren laughing.

Cerien got back up. He was about to pass out from the pain. But he persevered. He shut his eyes and raised his right hand. In desperation, he swung his claws down at Kuren.

And then, Cerien stopped feeling everything. The unbearable heat in his gauntlets disappeared. Sudden realization dawned on him. He must have passed out. Or he could’ve just been killed. Perhaps this was the afterlife. But he heard a groan of pain.

Cerien opened his eyes. His eyes widened further in shock. There were deep, long claw marks in the walls and the floor. Cerien was standing quite far from the marks. He looked down at his gauntlets. He finally understood what the gift that Kjorn had left him was.

Kjorn’s hint echoed in his mind. The harder you get hit, the harder you’ll hit. What a bastard. He should have just told Cerien from the start.

He heard a groan once more. Kuren was on one knee on the ground. His right arm was hanging limply, his left hand gripping it tightly. Blood dripped on the ground from his right arm.

“Hehehe. Amazing. You caught me completely off guard. Congratulations, human. You managed to actually wound me. Though, I’m not so sure that you’re human. Whatever. That power…does deserve a modicum of acknowledgement. Boy. My name is Behemet, proud lieutenant of the Demon Lord Azarot. State your name, boy.”

“Cerien.” He said coldly.

“I came here under the guise of Kuren Sain for one purpose. To avenge my brother Azai, murdered by the girl over there. Though, that purpose has been accomplished now. You’re too late. She’s dead.” Behemet said with a nasty grin.

“I don’t care about the girl.”

“Huh?” Behemet’s smug expression was replaced with confusion.

“I followed you for one reason, you fake. To kill you.”

Cerien suddenly charged at Behemet. His arms felt quite weak and tired, but he still had energy left to slash Behemet. After all, Behemet was kneeling, his right arm disabled. He had nowhere left to run.

Cerien slashed towards Behemet’s right arm, where he was defenseless. The worried expression on Behemet’s face was replaced with a smirk.

Behemet’s right arm suddenly moved and grabbed Cerien’s wrist. With one smooth motion, he got up and threw Cerien against the wall. Cerien’s head hit the wall, and his vision went fuzzy.

He fell the ground, feeling light-headed.

Behemet chuckled. “Do you really think it’s that easy to beat a demon?”

“Sorry boy. But it’s over. You failed to kill me. But since you went through all this effort…how about I do something for you in return?” Behemet cruelly smiled.

He turned towards the door as two guards entered the room.

“Huh? What’s going here?” one the guards asked.

“Guards! I can’t believe what just happened! I just came here to get Rai, but this…thing! He killed her! I just barely managed to subdue him!” Behemet pointed towards Cerien’s limp body.

Cerien’s vision faded as the guards walked towards him.

As he lost consciousness, Behemet waved at him with a wicked grin.