Chapter 50: Death's Embrace

"Long time no see you rascal, I hear the Seeking Blade took you in after kicking your ass?" Roki said, trying to make conversation.

"That is none of your business…" Clyde's voice continued to tremble.

"Well, I'm stumped. I was told to kill the intruders and spare the curse wielder. But I can't kill Clyde, and I'm assuming the bitch over there is the curse wielder," he said, his voice beginning to get irritated.

"Watch your tongue, you fiend. And what do you mean 'I can't kill Clyde?'. Don't pity me," Clyde hissed, feeling disgusted to being pitied by him.

"Man, not being able to kill any of you is really pissing me off. Maybe I should just say fuck it and kill both. I made that deal with your dad like a million years ago anyways," Roki expressed as he summoned a large hammer from his weapon ring. Clyde reacted panickingly, suddenly raising his voice.

"Quick, cover your ears!" He yelled to Xenia, who didn't react in time.

Roki struck the floor with his hammer, as soon as he did, he teleported in front of Xenia, who was bewildered. He waved his hammer and thwacked it on the girl, Clyde having a devastated expression as he watched.

"Wow, you're strong for a curse wielder!"

Xenia had summoned what was in the weapon ring that she took off the soldier, spawning a large black-iron greatsword, matching her height and double her girth. The sword matched the hammer in size and its weight seemed to be about double her own. She wielded it with ease, standing her ground against the force that struck her.

She blocked Roki's attack using her overwhelming strength, however, Roki suddenly appeared behind her and swung yet again, to which she couldn't react in time. Clyde activated his Spring and grazed his sword on the side of Roki's hammer, offputting the trajectory and deflecting the attack.

"From now on, cover your ears when he goes to smack his hammer. He can teleport to anyone who directly hears his hammers thwacks. If you cover your ears, it obstructs his power," Clyde explained while heavily breathing out of exhaustion.

"Let me handle this. You're too tired," she proposed, to which he quickly responded.

"We're both tired. We stand a better chance at beating him together," he grabbed his tachi, which immediately began quivering in fear. Xenia noticed his trembling and looked at him with a worried expression.

Roki wound up his hammer again, to which the two covered their ears.

"Are you both idiots? I can just run up to you… Or, I can do this!" He thwacked his hammer, teleporting to a nearby unconscious soldier.

The two swiftly reacted, taking their hands off their ears and summoning their weapons again, to which Roki hammer thwacked, teleporting behind them.

"You're too slow!" He yelled as he swung his hammer at full force at Clyde, who used his Spring to slow the extremely fast hammer strike.

Even slowed, Clyde didn't have time to dodge. Xenia jumped in front of the attack and took it at full force, protecting Clyde. Due to her enhanced state as a result of the inverted curse, she was able to tank the attack relatively well, allowing her to strike a counterattack with her blade. However, as she swung, Roki disappeared once again, using the sound of the impact made between the hammer and Xenia to teleport once again.

He was now above them, and with the rattled Xenia and Clyde's Spring about to run out, Clyde squeezed out a few extra seconds for his Spring and shot up from his position, grabbing Xenia's hand and running away.

"Cover your ears and follow me! We can't defeat him in our battered state! And not with this many other people around!" He said as he de-activated his Spring. Xenia nodded her head sternly and followed him, as they ran through door after door, eventually making it to the main entrance, which was closed.

"Shit. This needs an ID to open… But to swipe it, I have to remove my hands off my ears…" He thought as he looked over at Xenia, who was also covering her ears. That was when he got an idea. He swiftly removed his left hand off of his ears and stuck them onto the back of Xenia's hand, which was on her right ear.

"C-Clyde?! What are you doing?!" She frantically said, as her face turned red, his face being incredibly close to hers.

"Stay still for a moment."

He grabbed the ID card and swiped it on the card reader beside the entrance, slowly opening the entrance door. They heard Roki's voice from the end of the hall.

"There's no escape~!" He sang cheerfully as he approached the two.

They turned around to look at him, feeling the rain splash on them through the slowly opening door in front of them. They looked back in front of them and ran outside, then instantly stopped in their muddy tracks.

They saw an entire battalion stationed in front of them, all dressed in red and surrounding their only escape route. They both collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, gazing upon the enemies that enormously outnumbered them.

"My, now this I was not expecting to see…" Said a white-haired woman who emerged from the middle of the army, her yellow eyes piercing into their conscious.

They saw a grey-haired man standing beside her, slapping his head in shame as if he was bracing for a scolding from the woman.

"You must be the curse wielder, Xenia Vossen correct?" Asked the woman, to which Xenia stayed silent.

"And you, beside her. Might I ask who you are?"

Clyde reacted by grabbing Xenia's hand and running back into the building but ran into Roki standing at the door menacingly. He wound up his hammer for a swing before he was stopped by the same voice that was asking questions.

"Roki!" The woman yelled, making him reluctantly stop, scoffing to himself in irritation.

Xenia tightened her grip on Clyde's hand as she began getting dizzy from exhaustion, Clyde having her sit down on the muddy floor. Struggling to stay conscious, they both reverted their vision to the battalion in front of them.

"Luther dear, mind explaining why 'he's' not here?" Asked the white-haired woman, making the grey-haired man freeze up, laughing nervously.

"Haha… About that…" He said, scratching the back of his head trying to think of an excuse. The woman sighed.

"I suppose it's no use crying over spilled milk," she said as she put her hand on her face in dissatisfaction. "Soldiers, retrieve the girl and kill the boy," the woman ordered. In an effort to stall the inevitable, Clyde called out.

"You look incredibly familiar..." He said, catching the attention of the woman, making her signal for the troops to stop. "At least tell us your name… My name is Clyde Morioh, Who are you?" He asked, which made the woman chuckle.

"Oh? Interesting... I'd hate to take pity on someone who's on his death bed, but I guess I'll make an exception just this one time. Who knows, you may prove useful to me. My name is Melina Alister, the current ruler of the Kanirah region in Orthlys," she said, beginning to smile as Clyde's expression changed, as did Xenia's.

"Wait… Alister? As in Drevius Alister, the timeless blitz?" Xenia reacted, being the Ranger fanatic that she was.

"Oh? I'm surprised you know the name… Most people have already forgotten about my poor older brother," she laughed, as her expression suddenly switched to a furious one. "The mere mention of that name is enough to make my blood boil… Soldiers!" She waved her hand again, signaling their attack. The soldiers charged at the two in the mud, screaming as they ran forward. "You may rough up the girl as a punishment for mentioning that name in my presence, but make sure to leave her alive."

"Hey, Xenia… If you hold my hand that tightly, I can't activate my time slowing Spring…" Clyde said wearily, subconsciously tightening his grip on her hand as he said that.

"Haha… I guess so…" She blushed. "But you don't have the energy to activate it again, do you?" She uttered, as Clyde laughed in acceptance.

"Haha… I suppose I don't," he put his mind to ease, tears beginning to stream down his face, which was masked by the rainfall.

"These last few moments I've spent with you have been really fun… Thank you for letting me see this world again," she smiled at him, the rain covering the tears flowing down from her eyes, her white hospital gown brown with mud.

As the soldiers were nearly on top of them, moments before Clyde's death, he finally made the connection. He looked at the woman through the holes in the soldier's formation. White hair, yellow eyes…

"Heh… I see now… Rein Alister…"

As he said that, a black beacon of light surrounded them, glimmering with unfathomable darkness. It pierced through the clouds, stopping the rainfall above them, the wind that it created blowing the closer soldiers away in a furious hurricane. As the black light dissipated, the two who were sitting in the mud were gone, replaced by a black-haired man with red eyes, wielding two swords that shimmered in the moonlight created by the hole in the sky.

"I knew I could count on you, Clyde…"