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Episode 102 Tales of the Lost Sword

The white arrow flies by at amazing speed, finally coming to a stop and drilling a hole straight through Fain’s chest. Ryuu watches Fain collapse in awe as he himself rises to his feet, nursing his injuries.

“Zack,” Ryuu cries in deep surprise, “you can still move?”

“Heh, ya told me t’back ya up, didn’t cha?” Zack replies with a wink. He lowers his Kage as his voice grows more serious. “Bastard killed Shuriken. ‘Course I wasn’t gonna let him go for doin’ that.”

Ryuu glances mournfully at Shuriken’s body, which is still laying on the cold ground. He strides over to the body and bends over it, feeling apprehensively for a pulse. He finally lets Shuriken’s wrist fall to the ground limply. “Damn…” he mutters under his breath.

Zack bows his head and sniffs slightly. He turns away from the bloody body of his friend. Ryuu sighs and returns to his feet. “But how are you still standing, anyway? I thought you’d run out of mana.”

“Tch,” Zack retorts, kicking a pebble on the ground, “I ain’t as stupid as I look, am I?” He glances over his shoulder at Ryuu for confirmation. “Anyway, s’true I did use up all my mana healin’ you, but that was part of my plan all along.”

Ryuu widens his eyes slightly to show surprise, as Zack continues with his explanation. “Y’see, I placed a well-timed Heal shield ‘round you with what was left of my remaining mana. Then I slumped down on the ground and played dead for a while, recoverin’ my mana when no one was looking. Result?”

Zack turns and points at Fain’s motionless body. “Holy Arrow straight t’the chest.”

Ryuu folds his arms and smiles slightly. “Not ba—” He suddenly turns and draws his sword, deflecting an arrow that was heading straight for him. A blizzard of ice particles swarms past him, as Ryuu counteracts the attack with a wall of fire.

“How dare you use that attack again…” Ryuu growls, as Fain rises still from the ground. “Ice Strike…how dare you use one of Arai’s attacks, bastard!” He raises his sword angrily, and points it at Fain. “I’ll kill you once and for all!”

“Damn it…” Fain curses under his breath, grasping his various wounds. “I’ll admit that it appears as though you two are stronger than I anticipated. It is time for me to depart, but rest assured, this victory of yours shall be short-lived. When we meet again, I shall kill you for certain!”

“Wait!” Ryuu howls, as Fain hurriedly whips out a scroll. “Stop right there! I won’t allow you to get away!” Whipping out his sword, Ryuu conjures up a massive ball of intense flame.

However, Fain disappears immediately, vanishing into the night. Instead, Ryuu’s reckless attack explodes upon the surface of a building behind where Fain had been standing, and the building bursts into flames.

“God damn it…” Ryuu pants, lowering his sword. It slips out of his bloody hand and falls to the ground with a clang. He turns to Zack. “This doesn’t feel like a win at all…”

However, Zack does not reply, but merely stares down darkly at the ground, his eyes blank. In his hands, his fingers wrap themselves harder around his staff; but all the while, Zack remains completely and mysteriously silent.

“What’s wrong?” Ryuu asks presently. He turns to Shuriken with another melancholy look. “I’m sorry about Shuriken, but neither of us could have saved him… If anything, I apologize for arriving too late to help you two.”

Zack begins shaking violently, and he jerks his head up suddenly with eyes blazing. “Save the pep talk, yeah?! This is bigger than Shuriken! I screwed up big time.”

“What are you talking about?” Ryuu asks, not understanding. “We’ve defeated Fain. Aren’t you at least a little happy that we’ve won?”

“Won?” Zack repeats, turning with a maniacal glare at Ryuu. “You kiddin’ me? We may’ve won this fight, but if we don’t do anything, we’ve already lost.”

“What are you talking about?” Ryuu asks again, his eyes growing larger by the minute. “Zack, what the hell are you not telling me? What the hell is up with this secret about the Fatalists you’ve been hiding from all of us?!”

Zack glares at Ryuu, his eyes darkened completely. “Ryuu. Ya ever heard of The Legend of the Three Phonemes?”

“Of course,” Ryuu replies perplexedly. “There’s no way I couldn’t have heard it by now with all that we’ve been through.”

“Then,” Zack continues, “you’re probably familiar with the fact that there’re three Phonemes, carried by three girls at a time. When one of ‘em dies, it is reborn in a new girl, thus keeping the cycle of Phonemes at a constant. Them Phonemes are said to have magical powers, and possess all t’knowledge of the world. That’s true. But do ya know why?”

Ryuu narrows his eyes. He shakes his head, voicing in a low voice, “No. Why?”

“It’s said that long ago,” Zack says, “the Four of Victoria Island were faced with a great big calamity. Lilith the Paradox Mother was goin’ around terrorizing the world. Usin’ something called the Maple Hero’s Sword, they split the world into four separate universes and locked Lilith into one o’ them. The new worlds were then locked from each other. In this way, even if Lilith escaped, she could be easily caught again.

“Problem was, t’Four realized quickly that the Maple Hero’s Sword was too strong. Thing essentially had the power to destroy anything, real, imaginary, past, present, future. Too powerful. So they cut t’thing into three pieces and locked them inside three female human souls, to be reborn within a new girl each time one of the girls died. This way, only the Four could access t’sword should they ever need it again. S’been like this for centuries now without anyone realizin’ the nature of this.

“The Legend of the Three Phonemes was created and passed down among the people in the Maple World. They were told the Phonemes had magic powers, which is true, because their souls obtained the power from t’shards of the Maple Hero’s Sword. What they didn’t know, was the existence of the sword, and how t’obtain it. Until now, at least. I dunno how, but the Fatalists figured it out. Although I dunno why, that is what the Fatalists are after—the Maple Hero’s Sword.

“And the method of obtaining the Maple Hero’s Sword is…capture all three Phonemes, destroy their souls, and…piece t’sword back together.”

Zack finishes speaking at last, and Ryuu’s eyes bulge to the point of nearly popping. “All three Phonemes…? Then, that means…”

Zack nods gravely. “S’not just Lily. Ayame, Ivy, and Lily are all in danger.”

“Why didn’t you tell us all this sooner?!” Ryuu cries in astonishment.

“We were naïve. We tried t’protect ya all, Shuriken and me, that is,” Zack replies softly. “Unfortunately, plan didn’t work out too well. We didn’t want you guys knowin’ the burden of the secret unless absolutely necessary, else the Fatalists would come after the rest of ya as well. If only me n’ Shuriken knew, then we could still protect the Phonemes without endangerin’ the rest of ya. But…”

“But?” Ryuu asks anxiously, leaning closer for more.

“I’ve screwed up big time,” Zack answers. “Shuriken’s dead, n’ the three Phonemes are in grave danger. I myself sent Ivy runnin’ around with only Rill thinkin’ they’d be all right. And after seein’ the Fatalists’ power, we’re screwed if we don’t go after ‘em and protect ‘em right away.”

“This is terrible,” Ryuu mutters pensively. He sighs, rubbing his chin in meditation for a moment.

“What’s your plan now?” Zack asks.

“We have to go after Ayame immediately,” Ryuu replies eventually. “She’s in the most danger right now, especially if she’s in direct combat with a Fatalist. Then, we have to immediately head out and catch up to George and make sure Lily’s all right. Then we can focus on finding Ivy as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling about this, though. There’s no way we can catch up to all three girls before the Fatalists get to at least one of them.”

“We have to hurry,” Zack says hastily, grabbing his staff.

Far away, a silent and solemn observer watches the chaos unfold. He watches as Recelo and Midori hurry to join their fellows, carrying an unconscious Ayame towards impending doom. In another corner of the world, Lily rides nervously next to George, as they lead the escape from Skylark City. And furthest away of all, Ivy and Rill continue to scramble frantically over endless hills, searching for Kunai.

Watching all of this, a thin smile creeps across the sentinel’s face.