Episode 45 Hide And Seek!

As Lord Fyx steps forward, sunlight, pouring in through a large hole in the tower wall, shines over his face, revealing a pair of glasses and a bright red monocle. “Ryuu…at last, I’ve caught up to you!”

He wrenches the door open and steps through it, just as the tower shakes violently once again, and several floors from up above cave in.

Kunai stands under the support of Ivy as the two of them and Shuriken gaze up at the towering mass of Eos Tower standing before them.

Eos Tower trembles once violently, and with one last shudder, the entire tower collapses from the sky, its once grand hundred-floor mass falling apart to pieces.

Kunai, Ivy, and Shuriken turn as they hear a door slam behind them. All three of them gasp aloud as they spot Lord Fyx standing behind them, closing Ivy’s Mystic Door behind himself.

“You’re…!” Kunai gasps as he turns around and sees Fyx standing behind them.

“Lord Fyx,” Shuriken mutters in a low voice, staring straight into the cold eyes of Lord Fyx.

Fyx stands still with a smirk on his face as he straightens up and faces the remainder of the group. His eyes stray over temporarily to the bodies of Ryuu and Arai lying on the floor. “My, my…Shuriken…it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? You’re all grown up.”

Shuriken clenches his fists tightly as he stares at Fyx. He reaches toward his side and pulls out several Tobis, clenching them tightly in his hands. “Fyx…” he growls under his breath.

Kunai stares from Shuriken to Lord Fyx with a puzzled expression. He turns to Shuriken. “Hm? Do…you two know each other or something?”

Shuriken closes his eyes, so that he is no longer staring at Fyx. “Lord Fyx…is the reason I resent the Myougun so much. It was he…who killed my sister personally, along with the rest of my family.”

Kunai and Ivy both gasp aloud in surprise. “So Fyx…killed your entire family?” Kunai mutters, a grotesque look on his face. He glances up at Fyx as he speaks. ‘This guy is sick…’

On the ground, Ryuu and Arai suddenly stir at once. Ryuu slowly raises himself on the floor, groaning softly to himself. He raises his head dizzily, but his eyes immediately widen as he spots Lord Fyx standing in front of him.

Arai also raises his head, and stares fixedly at Lord Fyx as he notices him. Arai glances over to Ryuu and Kunai, who are both facing Fyx with dead cold expressions on their faces.

Ryuu immediately forces himself up, and clutches the hilt of his sword, drawing it forth immediately. The sword bursts into flames and lightning, as Ryuu holds it up, glaring at Lord Fyx the entire time.

“Fyx!” Ryuu growls, “We’re gonna settle our score right here, right now!” Ryuu waves his sword, and it howls in anger as well, as the flames and lightning glow brighter. “Last time we met, I didn’t have my sword with me…and I didn’t have this Lightning Mage stuff. You’re going down!”

Ryuu explodes forward instantly, hurling himself at Fyx. Fyx merely steps aside, and allows Ryuu to run past him, still waving his sword. “You’re going to pay, Fyx!” Ryuu shouts, turning around and launching himself at Fyx again.

“Why’s Ryuu so angry all of a sudden?” Kunai asks in alarm. “He just woke up from being knocked out by the Triplicate. He hasn’t even gained all his strength and mana back yet!”

“Lord Fyx and Ryuu have a very long history,” Arai replies nonchalantly, watching the battle with Fyx and Ryuu. Arai turns to Kunai and Ivy, who both stare right back at him. “You see…a long time ago, Ryuu, Ayame, and I were part of the four-person platoon originally designed to defeat the Triplicates and combat the Myougun.

“We failed miserably, to say the least. We were captured by Lord Fyx and his men, and as punishment for defying him, he forced us to watch as he brutally slaughtered our fourth member and dear friend, Yttrius, our Priest.”

“What?!” Kunai gasps out loud. “He outright killed one of your friends?!”

“And as if that wasn’t enough,” Arai mutters in a low voice, “Ryuu has never forgiven Lord Fyx since…because it was also under Lord Fyx’s order to turn Ayame into a Paradox.”

“What…?” Kunai gasps again, turning to stare at Ryuu’s back. His eyes quickly roam over to Shuriken, who has remained completely silent. ‘So they both have a reason to hate Fyx…’

Ryuu flies straight at Fyx, who dodges the attack again, allowing Ryuu to skid to a stop behind him. Fyx turns to face Ryuu again. “Ryuu…is that really all you’ve got? Heh. You’re weak.”

Ryuu narrows his eyes, staring up at Fyx angrily. “What did you say?!”

The memory of Ayame standing before Ryuu earlier briefly flashes across his mind. “What’s the matter, Ryuu? Do you not like the sound of ‘weak?’ Here it is again… You. Are. Weak. Ryuu.”

Suddenly Ryuu’s sword renews in strength and vigor, and it blazes stronger than ever before. He reaches into his pockets and drops several small packets behind him onto the ground in front of Kunai, Arai, Shuriken, and Ivy.

“You guys…take these speed pills,” Ryuu mutters, “And get the hell out of here. Fyx is after all of us, me in particular. I’ll hold him off while you guys run.”

“Heh, doing the noble thing?” Fyx sneers at Ryuu.

Ryuu smirks, staring straight into Fyx’s cold eyes. “No, I’m doing the selfish thing. I’m going to go do what I’ve wanted to do for all these years, and I’m not gonna let anyone else get in the way!”

Kunai picks up the packets of speed pills, and hands one to everyone else. He stares at Ryuu’s back tentatively. “Ryuu, you sure you want us to go? We can back you up.”

“Go!” Ryuu snarls, “I don’t need you guys! Besides! If you don’t go now, more of Fyx’s men are gonna arrive, and then you won’t be able to leave even if you wanted to!”

Kunai stares for a while longer at Ryuu’s back silently. “Okay,” he mutters finally, “We’ll go, Ryuu. Just make sure you catch up with us later!”

“Right,” Ryuu nods, still glaring at Lord Fyx.

Kunai opens the package of speed pills and takes a quick bite of it. He then starts running away from the scene, while Arai, Shuriken, and Ivy follow the same motions and follow after him.

As the rest of the group runs off, Ryuu watches them go and then focuses his attention back on Lord Fyx. “All right, Fyx…this is going to be your last battle!”

Fyx sneers at Ryuu as he draws closer again, lunging forward and swinging his sword wildly. Fyx lazily reaches forward and grabs Ryuu’s sword by the blade, crushing it in his nimble fingers and flicking Ryuu backwards.

Ryuu lands on his butt, and stares up at Fyx in surprise. Fyx begins slowly smirking and then bursts out into an all-out, evil cackle. “You never seem to understand the true value of power, Ryuu. You don’t hate me nearly as much as you deserve to. Arrogant and stupid to the end. I will show you true power!”

Fyx suddenly reaches with his right hand into his left arm, which has melted away into a thick, swirling liquid of pitch-black darkness. He then pulls out from the arm with a sickening crunching noise a long, thin, blue spear.

As Fyx draws the Fairfrozen from his left arm, it slowly hardens and solidifies again, returning once again to a state of normal flesh. Fyx holds his newly recovered Fairfrozen in both hands, staring down at Ryuu.

“Let us fight!” he cries.

Ryuu rises to his feet, drawing his sword. He runs straight forward, bringing his sword to collide with Fyx’s spear with a loud clatter. He then parries a counterattack and dodges left to avoid a third attack.

Ryuu blocks another attack and takes a flying leap backwards to create more space between himself and Fyx. ‘Ugh…I don’t really haven’t recovered that much mana yet. I have to finish this quick before I tire out from fatigue.’

A brief flashing memory of Ryuu stunning the crowd of onlookers with his fireworks at Ant Tunnel Park crosses his mind suddenly. Ryuu smirks to himself. ‘This is gonna be one hell of a fireworks show!’

Ryuu enters a fighting stance as he faces off with Fyx. He stares back defiantly at Fyx as he gazes at him shrewdly. Fyx blanches slightly at the look on Ryuu’s face. ‘He seems to have gotten a lot more confident just now…what’s he planning?’

Fyx grits his teeth, and hurls himself forward, holding his Fairfrozen in both hands and throwing himself forward to attack Ryuu.

Ryuu narrows his eyes, raising his sword vertically to meet Fyx. “Heh. Normally, I don’t like to waste my time casting spells…but I am a Fire Mage, you know. SLOW!”

Fyx’s eyes widen as his movements slow substantially suddenly, as his legs continue to move but act as though frozen in slow motion. Fyx turns his head skywards as Ryuu leaps into the air after him.

Ryuu rapidly charges his sword with lightning, and lands several heavily charged blows on Fyx’s arms. Fyx suddenly cries out loud, and breaks free from Ryuu’s Slow spell.

Fyx lowers his arms as several thin trickles of blood fall to the floor at his feet. He stares back arrogantly at Ryuu, his Fairfrozen still clenched tightly in his hands. “Is that all you really have? You’re weak,” he spits.

“Shut the hell up!” Ryuu shouts, coming straight at Fyx once more. He latches his own hands onto Fyx’s arms and glares down at Fyx. Suddenly he lets go as a flare of flames explodes from his sword, and Ryuu flips into the air as a large explosion of smoke and flames engulf the air. “Explosion!”

Ryuu lands hard on the floor, skidding several feet backwards. As the smoke clears, Fyx remains standing, sneering and laughing at Ryuu at the same time. “Weak, Ryuu…weak.”

Ryuu gasps, clenching his side and groaning loudly. He spits out blood from his mouth, watching as it lands on the floor, a dark, staining red. “What kind of monster are you… That blow should’ve killed you instantly.”

Kunai, Ivy, Arai, and Shuriken continue running through the heavily barbed wire fenced territory of Omega Sector. They quickly fly down the road, watching as buildings disappear in flashes beside them.

“How much longer do we have to keep going…” Kunai mutters. “I can feel the speed pills starting to wear off. I don’t have enough strength left in me to cast Haste for all of us. The blinding pain in my legs…!”

Arai turns to Kunai as he runs next to him. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but we can probably take a rest once we get out of Omega Sector. Our next destination is…Gamma Precinct, located far out from Omega Sector.”

Shuriken clenches his teeth and growls under his breath as a brief vision of Lord Fyx flashes across his mind. It displays a vision of Fyx standing in the middle of the burning ruins of a house, as he lifts up the limp body of a girl with long black hair.

Shuriken stops in his tracks suddenly, planting deep footprints in the ground where he’d pressed himself against to stop his own inertia. Kunai and Arai turn back as Shuriken stops.

“Shuriken? What’s the matter?” Kunai yells.

“I’m…sorry,” Shuriken mutters in reply. He suddenly disappears in a flash, as he casts Haste on himself and disappears, headed back in the direction from which they had come.

Kunai jumps forward in surprise, about to chase after him. However, Arai reaches an arm forward and holds Kunai back. “Let him go, Kunai. Shuriken’s old enough to be responsible for his own actions. We can’t stop for him.”

As Shuriken flies through the air, leaping across buildings back towards Ryuu and Fyx, he narrows his eyes, thinking only of Fyx. ‘He’s not going to live past today.’

“You’d better prepare yourself if you’re going to fight me, Ryuu!” Fyx smirks, as he launches himself forward and strikes Ryuu with a quick blow of his Fairfrozen.

Ryuu flies into the air with a loud cry of pain. He falls harshly onto the ground, clutching his chest as he struggles to breathe, his breaths coming in sharp, painful gasps. He coughs weakly and chokes out a small fountain of blood.

“Tsk, tsk, I’m quite disappointed, Ryuu…” Fyx sneers, as he walks straight up to Ryuu’s limp body on the ground. He points the tip of his Fairfrozen on Ryuu’s chest. “I was expecting a valiant fight in which you just barely failed to kill me. But it seems…you haven’t much strength left already. To think, an old man like me hardly even had to strain a muscle or bone.”

“This is it! It’s over!” Fyx screams, raising his Fairfrozen to strike.

Suddenly a large shuriken flies spinning through the air, and plants itself deep in Lord Fyx’s back. He gasps in surprise and chokes as the Avenger enters his body from behind.

A fresh river of blood flows from Fyx’s new wound. His face twists in agony as the Avenger falls out of his back and lands on the ground, one of its tips wet with blood.

“Is it really? I’ve hardly had a taste of the fun,” Shuriken’s voice rings out suddenly, as Fyx’s glasses and monocle fall to the ground, revealing a set of bright yellow eyes surrounding a red pupil.

Next Time: Episode 46 Out in the Middle of Nowhere and In the Middle of it All!

Kunai: Arai…you sure we’re going the right way?

Arai: Let’s call the cookie fortuneteller for some advice!

Kunai: …You’re kidding, right? Right? RIGHT?! ANSWER ME, ARAI!

Episode 46 Out in the Middle of Nowhere and In the Middle of it All! coming soon!