Chapter XXXIV

When Arisa suddenly jumped to the forefront of the battle and attacked Nakoma Taurus, Eric knew that was the moment he would have no choice but to fight. From what Ryokumo had told him about Hannah, and the reflexes she’d already displayed that night, he trusted she would be able to hold the Korrei-Tarr off, so with Arisa taking on the Master of Fire, that left only one opponent for him to deal with:

Sinna Cartus, the Master of Rock.

And it seemed she was just as eager to take him on as, the moment he launched himself off the ground and rushed her, she did the same, her arms and fists already encased in a thick layer of stone. He knew she wouldn’t be like the other enemies he’d faced. Nigreos, Album, and Reigious were all daunting because of the sheer strength of their magic, but he knew rock magic wasn’t about offense. It centered more on defending the body and serving as an affinity that could take numerous hits without feeling a thing. Landing attacks on Sinna Cartus wouldn’t be hard, but he wasn’t sure he could take her down and win. In fact, he was almost certain that he wouldn’t win. His previous victories against Masters had been due to blood magic, but that only applied to Nigreos and Album. Sinna could do whatever she wanted to him and the defense wouldn’t activate.

Meaning for the first time, I could actually die in battle! Nigreos didn’t want to kill me, but I can tell that she does!

Sinna’s amber eyes were wide with fury as they closed the gap between them, and he could tell that his choice to fight beside the Children had resulted in her hatred. Ryokumo had already warned him that Sinna didn’t trust him, so she would have been the hardest to reason with before he openly defied Ijiria. Now, she would never hear him out. She would never stand down. She would simply attack with everything she had until he was a bloody mess on the concrete.

Therefore, I can’t hold back either. I never felt any ill will toward her, but if I don’t fight to kill, I will die!

As the sounds of Hannah dueling the Korrei-Tarr reached him from behind, Sinna’s screams came at him from the front as Eric launched multiple blades of wind directly at her. He’d never seen her in action before, but he had been under the impression that her larger size and the weight of the rock would result in her being somewhat slow.

How wrong he was.

Sinna blocked the blades with her fists before finally reaching him, sending punch after punch toward his head and torso that he only barely dodged. Even in just that handful of attacks, he could tell that she was not only skilled with magic, but knew hand-to-hand combat as well. She’d be impossible to fight up close, so distance would be necessary.

“Proto!” he snarled, quickly darting down the road before launching himself up onto one of the nearby houses. He didn’t even have time to think before he turned around and rattled off every spell he could think of. “Perkari! Condite! Infernus!”

The blade of wind he shot down to the street below was swiftly crushed, but the ropes managed to land, wrapping themselves around her body to hold her in place. She reacted once again, ripping them off as if they were made of paper, but it was as she was freeing herself that Eric’s burst of fire hit her square in the chest, engulfing the woman in an explosion of flame. Even knowing rock magic existed to defend her, he still had hope that the fire would weaken her to an extent. Yet once again, he was shown just what power a Master possessed.

When the flames died down, Sinna stalked forward, her arms no longer the only thing shielded by rock. Now, the protection had spread to her entire body, making it look as if she were made out of stone rather than flesh. Her head was completely covered and it even seemed as if the stone had entered her mouth, hardening her teeth and tongue as well. Her eyes were no longer visible, but where Eric knew they should be were instead two glowing orbs of yellow that were directed straight up at him. She was a walking statue, and it was then that he truly understood the beast he was up against.

My attacks aren’t strong enough to pierce that! There’s not a single thing in my arsenal that’ll work!

“Do you see now what mistake you made?” Sinna spat, her voice deeper and more monstrous than before. “Your victories against Noctis and Luz made you cocky, boy, but you aren’t invincible like you were there. Did you really think you could win against me?”

He stood up straighter, suppressing the fear welling up inside of him as he forced up a confident facade. “It doesn’t matter whether I can or not! You will not hurt the Children of Reiner, Master Cartus! I refuse to let you! I won’t die and neither will they!”

“You’re a fool. I always knew you were,” she growled. “And if this is how you choose to die then I welcome it. Let me drag your bloody corpse back to Reigious’s feet and show him what Abigail’s son became! I’ll show him that you were no different than her—that you’re nothing more than a traitor.”

“To you, perhaps,” he called down. “But I respect Reigious! I respect you Masters, who allowed me to live here, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the person you wanted! But I have my priorities and I have my enemies. Just know…that my appreciation was never a lie.”

Sinna let out a gruff hiss before shaking her head. “Your appreciation is worthless when your actions tell a different story! Do you understand what you’ve done to Caeli?! He’s been betrayed so many times in the past—by your mother and by his apprentice! Are you really going to put him through that again?! If you appreciated us then you would have chosen differently!”

Eric furrowed his brow as he took in her words. She sounded furious not only that he betrayed the Citadel, but that she perceived him to have turned against Ryokumo as well.

“Sinna Cartus is a strong and powerful individual but to be honest, I know very little about her as a person. She despises me, you see. We’ve never exactly seen eye-to-eye, and I don’t believe she wants to. She’s only ever been hostile so be cautious around her.”

Is it possible…Ryokumo misread her? Does she at least respect him to some extent?

Pushing the strange words from his mind, Eric quickly replied in order to ensure that his master’s tracks were covered. “What happens to Ryokumo is unfortunate, but I appreciate him as well. He and Master Mackia have both taken care of me.”

“AND YET THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY THEM?!” Sinna snarled. “You ungrateful little bastard, Reiner!”

Having expected the battle to resume in mere seconds, Eric had been ready to begin throwing whatever he could at the Master, and yet he hadn’t been ready for what happened next. He had been so focused on not taking his eyes off of Sinna that he hadn’t seen the man approach until he acted.

Without a sound, Malt Territh appeared behind the Master of Rock, wielding a giant warhammer that he brought down on her skull with a loud crack. For a brief moment, Eric thought the man had killed her, yet Sinna only slightly flinched, as if he had merely hit her with his fist. She then swung around so fast that it was clear the attack had done nothing as she sent three consecutive punches his way, the first two barely getting blocked by Malt’s hammer and the third hitting him square in the chest. But it was as he lunged backwards that the light of the burning house hit him perfectly to reveal the layer of rock protecting his chest and below. Sinna’s punch stunned him, but he was still on his feet.

With more shouting off to his left, he briefly took his eyes off of Malt and Sinna to see Ardan and Lyla Tessir darting around the neighborhood with wind magic as they aided Hannah against the Korrei-Tarr, and a few yards away, Tylo was tending to Irin. They were all alive, and with their help, Hannah would be safe. Therefore, Eric knew where his power would be best put to use. Malt Territh knew rock magic, and if anything could breach Sinna’s defenses, it was him, so Eric would do whatever he could for him.

“Proto,” he uttered as he ran and dived over the street to land on the house across from them, giving him a better angle of the Master of Rock as she and Malt moved faster than he would have expected they could as hammer and fist collided with each other, occasionally landing blows on their opponent's body but never being enough to knock them down. With Malt there, he knew he had to refrain from using fire magic again, so he instead turned to the affinity he was most comfortable with.

“Condite!” Eric snarled twice, creating ropes with both hands to wrap around Sinna’s arms.

He managed to pull her back for just a moment before her strength broke them free, but it gave Malt a needed opening. He swung his hammer down into her chest before spinning it upwards to slam into her chin, jolting her head backwards. Anybody else's neck would have been broken, but Sinna’s head just snapped back down to its normal position, as if the attack had invigorated her rather than harmed her. The fight continued on like this for some time, with Eric jumping between houses and using condite to yank Sinna’s limbs around, hoping to give Malt openings wherever he could. Yet it was clear that the Child wasn’t on the same level as Sinna. As Eric moved, he could see cracks beginning to form in Malt’s armor, and he still hadn’t hardened his head, which led Eric to wonder if Malt could form rock armor around his skull. As for Sinna, there wasn’t a breach to be seen, as if she hadn’t taken even a single hit.

What the hell are we supposed to do?! We’ve been fighting for nearly ten minutes and we still haven’t even begun to take her down! We have to beat Sinna! Hell, if she and Nakoma aren’t defeated, then I will have just ruined my shot at killing Nigreos and Album and freeing the others from the erased realm.

For a moment, he felt dread at the thought of Ryokumo finding out what he did. By intervening and trying to save Arisa, he had revealed to two Masters that he was on the Children’s side. Getting back into the Citadel would be both unnecessarily hard and dangerous when he would have been able to just walk back in had he not done what he did. The only way to make things right again would be if Arisa managed to kill Nakoma and Malt succeeded in killing Sinna. Yet, as impressive as he knew the Children of Reiner to be, the Masters were the best in their respective affinities. It would be nearly impossible to kill one of them, let alone both.

So why did I do this? I know that’s what Arisa and the others have to be thinking. They know that my priorities lay with the Magic Club and everybody else from Wilham, so why would I risk everything just for them?

“Reiner, listen to me. Just run. Go find my master and go back to the Citadel. We’ll deal with everything down here! Just finish your mission. Kill Noctis and Luz. Save your friends! There’s no need to risk it all for people you hardly know!”

That was what Hannah said to him while they crouched up on a rooftop, watching as Sinna and Nakoma threatened Arisa and Irin. Ryokumo’s former apprentice had always intended to jump down and fight, and Tylo had been ready to join her. Hannah had been quick to save him after Nakoma’s initial attack, and it was because of her quick thinking that he was able to get away without being spotted. Yet even so, Eric still went with her despite her urgings and the reasoning behind that was simple.

If he didn’t, Arisa would die.

He knew that if he turned around and fled, he would be abandoning Arisa, Hannah, and the Children of Reiner. Logic told him that only one extra fighter wouldn’t turn the tides enough, but he knew he had to try. If he ran like a coward, he would never forgive himself if they all died. He couldn’t leave them. Even if he barely knew them, they were still his mother’s adoptive children. They loved her the same way he did, and in his eyes, they were his brothers and sisters. There was just no way he could abandon them.

So we have to win! In the end, this won’t matter! We’ll beat Sinna and then we’ll hurry off to aid Arisa and beat Nakoma as well! We have to!

But the battle just wouldn’t turn in their favor. Even after everything they had thrown at her, Sinna was still unharmed and he could tell that Malt was reaching his limit. If something didn’t change within the next few minutes, Malt would die and Eric would have no choice but to run.

If they couldn’t kill Sinna Cartus, then it was all over for him.

And then, to Eric’s utter horror, the Master of Rock reached up and grabbed Malt’s hammer in one hand, before taking a violent swing at his face, smashing her rock-infused fist right into his nose and snapping his head back in a spray of blood. And unlike Sinna, his head didn’t snap back in place. Instead, Malt simply crumpled to the ground and Eric couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead. All he knew was that on the chance that it hadn’t killed him, he needed to keep her from finishing him off at all costs.

“Condite!”

“Perkari!”

As he shouted the chant for the rope spell once again, hoping to prevent Sinna from getting a chance to breathe, three other voices cried out in unison, blades of wind colliding with the Master’s giant form from all different directions. Tylo, Ardan, and Lyla all darted across the sky, placing themselves on separate rooftops as they cast their spells, and when Eric quickly glanced off to where they’d been fighting, he saw the Korrei-Tarr laying on the concrete unmoving, the flames from the house glinting off of their red and black armor. He didn’t see Hannah anywhere and could only assume that she went to help Arisa, which gave him a rather quick feeling of relief, knowing the girl would soon have backup. Sinna let out another shrill battle cry as her attention was drawn away from Malt’s form and to the newcomers, who were already back in the air, darting around and hurling spells at her.

For the moment, Eric remained in place as he took the opportunity to catch his breath and pull himself back together. If Tylo were here then that meant he’d finished healing Irin and would have her in a more protected space. While the Childrens’ attacks were doing little to breach Sinna’s armor, they were at least able to distract her, so Eric quickly turned his attention to Malt Territh. The man could already be dead, but he had to be certain. If there was even a little life left in him, he could take what Iris taught him and hopefully save his life.

“Proto,” he whispered, once again diving off the building and soaring down to the streets below him.

He skidded along the side, reaching Malt in a matter of seconds, and after making sure that Sinna had been drawn far enough away, he quickly pressed his hands against the man, using one to feel for a pulse while already infusing his body with healing magic with the other. His face was a bloody mess, and his nose was clearly broken. Teeth had been knocked out and blood pooled in his mouth, but there was a very slight heartbeat still there, though Eric had a bad feeling that it could go quiet at any moment.

“Benedio,” he chanted, now using both hands. “Benedio.”

Gradually, the man’s face began to put itself back together. His nose straightened to a more natural position and the blood dripping from his mouth started to pull itself back into his body. Unfortunately, while Iris had told him about the abilities of master healers to reattach limbs and to fix teeth, he was nowhere near practiced enough to do it, so there was nothing he could do about Malt’s shattered mouth. He could only prevent him from dying, but he couldn’t fix him completely.

“Hmm…” Malt suddenly grunted, his eyes slowly opening. “What’s…happening? R-Reiner?”

“It’s okay,” he quickly assured him between chants of the incantations. “I’m doing what I can to heal you. I’m not going to let you die, Territh. Just stay there and don’t move.”

“W-where are…the others? And Cartus… Is she…?”

Eric briefly looked over his shoulder to see Sinna further down the road, still unharmed, but being plagued by the constant attacks from the Children. She might have been fast, but they were well practiced in wind magic, and thus far, she had failed to get a hit in on any of them. However, he saw Sinna’s attention turn his way, and knew that she had noticed what he was doing. The minute she got an opening, she would come sprinting toward him.

“They’ve got her handled for the moment,” Eric finally said. “Now, once you can move, try and take cover. You can’t fight her. None of us can. We just need to get as far away as possible.”

“B-but…”

“I’ll protect them,” he interrupted. “And so will Arisa and Hannah. We’ll protect each other. I promise you. So please, just listen to me. It’s for your own good. You’ve done everything you could. You kept Cartus busy for a long time and for that, I thank you. You’ve done your job.”

Within Malt’s dark eyes, Eric could see conflict, and he knew the man had to be debating what to do. Back in the house, Malt had made it clear how little he trusted him, so it couldn’t be an easy decision to just do what he asked, but after a few seconds, he finally let out a raspy sigh.

“Fine. Thank you for healing me. And thank you for not abandoning them. Perhaps…there’s some merit to who you claim to be…”

Eric forced a weak smile, thankful that he managed to get through to him. “I’ll do my best.”

“REINER!”

“Condite!”

Eric heard the sound of Sinna’s footsteps before her scream, so he was ready to react. He spun around and snarled the spell’s incantation, putting as much energy as he could spare into creating as strong of ropes as possible, and had he not done so, he would have died. Sinna was barely ten yards away when she was suddenly yanked backwards by his attack, but unlike every other time he attacked her, he didn’t run. Instead, he protoed toward her, closing that gap and reaching her armored form, his hands going to her chest as he recalled a spell he rarely used.

“Corsikei!”

Mana surged through his arms, sending a powerful shockwave into her body that he prayed would be strong enough to at least crack the rock that protected her. Yet even that couldn’t breach the defenses and only managed to shove her backwards, knocking her off her balance.

“All of you, get Territh out of here!” Eric shouted out to wherever the Children might be located. “Condite!”

Taking advantage of Sinna’s lost balance, he sent another wave of ropes after her, believing that if he could knock her off her feet then he might be able to get an edge on her, and to his surprise and gratitude, Ardan and Lyla came to the same conclusion. Two more sets of ropes wrapped around Sinna’s upper body, yanking her down to the ground with a violent crash, the sound mixing with her shouts of rage. Then out of the darkness above, Tylo landed right beside him, already making his way to where Malt was pushing himself to a sitting position.

“We owe you, Eric,” Tylo called back. “Thank you.”

His goodbye was brief as he rushed to his brother’s side, threw his arm around him, and began to lead him down a nearby alley. Eric didn’t have the energy to make a vocal reply as he did everything he could to hold Sinna down, but he made sure to smile at him to let him know that he heard him. Ardan and Lyla were both perched up on the roofs of the houses on either side of the road, doing the same to keep Sinna from moving.

“Guys, run!” Eric commanded. “I've got it from here! Just get to safety! Find Arisa and Hannah, and make sure you get Irin away from all this! I’ll deal with Cartus!”

He couldn’t see what faces the twins had made, but he knew they must think he was losing his mind. It was painfully clear how powerful Sinna Cartus was, and they had barely gotten her on her back with four of them fighting at once, but thankfully, they did as he asked. They would know how important it was to escape Erika now that they had been found. He’d already told them that this was the night everything would go down and he still intended for that to be the case. Nigreos and Album would die that night, and the Children of Reiner would escape Erika.

The moment Ardan and Lyla released their hold on the Master of Rock, Eric felt his ropes beginning to shatter, but the sounds of the twins chanting proto and rushing away comforted him. Knowing he needed to savor his energy, Eric released the ropes he knew would snap anyway and watched as Sinna pushed herself to her feet, her glowing yellow eyes directed at him. When she rose up to full height, she was nearly a foot taller than him and he could feel the dread washing over him as he faced the beast of a woman that she was.

“Are you that arrogant that you would send your allies away?” she demanded. “You’ve yet to even scratch me, yet you declare that you’ll deal with me alone? How idiotic.”

Eric shook his head. “No, I can’t win. I know that. But like I told you when I first jumped down here: I won’t allow the Children of Reiner to die. Now that they’ve escaped, I’ve already won.”

He didn’t know how he was going to get back to Ryokumo, and he wasn’t even sure where his master was, but he knew that escape was the only option left to him. He just needed to hold Sinna’s attention until everybody else was far away, and then using wind magic to escape would be easy. That was his plan.

“You’re such a waste,” she growled. “I actually had hopes for you, too, you know. I really did want you to prove me wrong to mistrust you.”

He nodded, sending more wind magic down to his wrists to show her that he was ready to continue their battle. “Thank you for that, Master Cartus.”

He expected her to charge him, to do everything she could to prevent him from escaping as she surely expected he would, yet Sinna hesitated and it was that hesitation that preceded what happened next. Without any warning, tendrils burst from the ground in a circle around the Master of Rock, shooting upwards as if to create a cage around where she stood.

“Wait! Durumi!” Sinna shouted, reaching to press her hands against the cobble ground, but they never made contact before more tendrils wrapped themselves around her wrists, pulling them back. Others grabbed her legs and her torso, and one even reached for her neck, holding the massive woman in place. She shouted out incantations, but offensive rock magic required contact with the earth to activate, and the tendrils completely blocked her from view as the cage closed around her, allowing only her muffled screams to reach the outside. Eric could only gape as he tried to process what he had just witnessed as he realized what he was staring at.

“Vines,” he muttered. “They’re vines…”

The boy spun around, having sensed the presence of the figure behind him, only to find a figure garbed in a white cloak and cowl, with a mask of the same color concealing their face, with two little horns on the forehead. The individual had saved him and his sense didn’t warn him of danger, so he took a step forward and went to speak, but she beat him to it.

“Come. We must move now. That will hold her for the moment but not for long. Please follow me.”

He recognized the voice almost instantly, yet she was clearly talking in a deeper tone as to prevent anybody else from catching on to her identity. The screaming and pounding of Sinna from within the cage of vines almost certainly drowned it out as the woman turned and began stalking back the way she had come. Eric, completely bewildered and stunned by the realization of who saved him, silently followed after her, rushing to reach her side.

“W-why?” he whispered. “How? I don’t…?”

Iris giggled softly, clearly amused by his confusion. “I’ll explain later. For now, let’s just move.”

Desperate for answers but knowing they didn’t have time to talk, Eric did as he was told and followed Iris Mackia deeper into the slums.

***

Carrying Arisa Kirisan in his arms, Ryokumo continued to chant healing spells as he sprinted through the darkened alleys, desperate to find Eric or any of the other Children as soon as he could. He was trying to put together and figure out what was going on, but the utter pain in his head was making it harder for him to think. After his conversation with Iris, he had told her to stay with him while they went to find Eric. Despite her telling him that she wanted to work with him, he still couldn’t bring himself to trust her, so until Nigreos and Album were dead, he didn’t want her out of his sight.

The plan had always been to meet Eric at the orphanage and begin the escape with Nuvo, but when he and Iris came across the giant phoenix, a spell so powerful that few in Ijiria could control it, he knew something had gone wrong. Fearing that it was Eric fighting Nakoma, Ryokumo had acted on instinct and rushed to help, only to find it was Arisa instead. He knew that he couldn’t take Nakoma on himself, so he resorted to the only thing he could think of: He cast Aniextiam on the Master of Fire, dropping him on the spot. He then rushed to get Arisa out of there, recognizing that she was on the brink of death, and when he returned to the street, Iris was gone.

Damn it! Where the hell did she go?! My only guess is that she went to the orphanage like I told her we would, but why would she leave without me?! Was I played? Was I just lead into some trap?!

He hadn’t known Nakoma Taurus was back in Erika, and if he was fighting Arisa then that meant the Children of Reiner had been compromised. He didn’t know if that meant Eric was found or not, and he wasn’t sure if other Masters were in the slums as well. He desperately wanted to ask Arisa, but the girl was asleep, her head resting against him as he ran.

I’m sorry, Kirisan. I should have been here to help. If any of you are dead… If Eric or Hannah are dead…

Ryokumo frantically rounded a corner and it was at that moment that he sensed the new presence. Yet it was a presence he knew well, and so he immediately came to a halt to see the young woman doing the same, just a few yards ahead of him.

“M-Master…” she stuttered, before exhaling in relief. Yet that relief was short lived as she noticed Arisa clutched in his arms. “What happened to her?!”

“She’s alive for now, Hannah,” he quickly assured her. “Now, let’s get to the orphanage. And please, tell me everything that’s happened.”