Episode 110 Meaning

Ryuu lays meekly on the devastated battleground, as Ivy bathes him in a cool green light. His wounds slowly repair themselves, sealed with Ivy’s magical healing power. Yet, the scars remain, and his blood-soaked clothes remain damp, a grim reminder of his battle with Kunai.

“Kunai…Kunai did this?” Ivy murmurs behind a veil of tears in her eyes. She sniffs slightly, fighting to hold back the tears. Instead, a single drop runs down her cheek and falls gently onto Ryuu’s chest.

Ryuu nods solemnly. “I…couldn’t stop him,” he heaves, every breath a forced effort.

Rill stands not too far away, watching the process gravely. He stares at a particularly large gash running across Ryuu’s bare shoulder with darkened eyes.

‘Soon, we’ll be facing that monster ourselves.’

“Ryuu!” Ivy shouts, rather urgently. “I know this is an absurd thing to ask at a time like this, but where has Kunai gone?!”

Ryuu stares blankly into Ivy’s eyes for some time, as if not comprehending the question. “If you’re still chasing after him…he’s gone. I don’t know where he is.”

“Moreover, he’s gone and took Lily too,” Zack says in a grim voice, striding out of nowhere to join the three weary travelers. His left arm is wrapped up in a makeshift brace.

“What?!” Ryuu gasps, attempting to sit up. But the action merely causes more wounds to reopen, and Ivy hurriedly forces Ryuu back onto the ground. “Why didn’t you stop him?!” Ryuu continues, gasping breathlessly even from the ground.

Zack looks away, staring at the ground. “S’not like I could. After seein’ what he did to ya…how could a coward like me stand up to him? He injured George n’ me before we could even react. He’s gone…with Lily, too.”

“Do you know where he went?” Ivy presses.

Zack looks into Ivy’s eyes, daring her to ask the question again. “No idea,” he sighs at last. “But I got a feelin’ in my stomach where he’s going.”

“Where is he going?!” Ivy asks at once, turning on Zack with all the urgency in the world.

Zack gulps hard, not a shred of humor in his expression. “My guess’s Lord…”

“…Kimura,” Kunai finishes quietly. The desert wind blows with icy dryness , kicking sand and dust up into the air. It circles around he and Lily for quite some time, morphing into a harsh and scathing cyclone. The two stand at the peak of a rocky hill, which tumbles down over a cascade of sharp rocks into a darkened valley below.

Off in the distance, just touching the zenith of the skyline, stand the creaking stone monuments known as the Gates of Hell.

Lily shakes her head, backing away from Kunai with mortal fear, as the latter pores into her body and soul with those dark, blank eyes.

“That’s right,” Kunai continues in that same low, monotone voice, “I shall use you as bait to attract Lord Kimura. He will inevitably come, if I have possession of the Third Phoneme. However, what he will not know is that I shall extract the Third Phoneme from you, here and now, before you gets a chance to take it himself.

“He will then seek battle with me, and I shall defeat him then. This is all inevitable. He seeks the Third Phoneme, and I seek to defeat him. When he comes, I will beat him at last, and then it shall be the end of it all.”

Lily, however, merely shakes her head with utmost fright, continuing to back desperately away from Kunai. “N-No,” she murmurs fearfully, “no, Kunai, no…”

“Don’t worry,” Kunai says, with the faintest hint of gentleness, “I shall not let any harm come to you. I merely request…that you…hand over the Third Phoneme without any resistance!”

With lightning quick speed, Kunai reaches into the pocket of his robe and draws from it a vial filled with blackish liquid. He shatters it with a flick of the wrist and consumes the liquid, allowing it to splash onto his lips and tongue. Almost instantly, his eyes are lit afire, glowing with the mad yellow gleam of a monster.

Rill hops nimbly from precipice to precipice, picking his spots carefully. At that moment, he slips on a loose stone and stumbles into a narrow crevice, barely wide enough for him to stretch his arms out in. He clambers over the rim of the hole, heaving himself back up with an effort.

He proceeds on, alone, as the events of the last few hours replay in his mind.

“Where is he going?!” Ivy asks at once, turning on Zack with all the urgency in the world.

Zack gulps hard, not a shred of humor in his expression. “My guess’s…Lord Kimura.”

Before anyone can even blink, she seizes her Thorns and runs off, disappearing into the distance in a flash of blue light. Rill turns, stumbling a few steps before realizing she is already out of reach.

“Wait, Ivy!”

Rill only turns back to look on the scene as Ryuu heaves a broken and weary sigh as he forces himself into a sitting position. He grimaces and instinctively grabs his side, where another fresh wound begins once again to leak blood.

“Someone ought to stop her.”

Zack nods in agreement. “Good idea,” he says out loud, grinning broadly for the first time in a long while. He spins and kicks Ryuu just under the chin, knocking him back onto the floor brutally, all the time with the same grin still plastered to his face.

Rill only watches in awed silence, unable to come up with any words to say. Zack steps up to him, and claps him with surprising strength on the shoulder. “Listen here, Rill,” Zack whispers in a low voice, “I know you wanna follow Ivy, so I ain’t gonna stop ya. Go on if ya want. Don’t cha worry one bit. I’ll take care o’ ole Ryuu here with my Heal, and you go chase after Ivy. It’s what cha want, right?”

Rill stares into Zack’s earnest eyes for a moment, and then nods his approval. “Thank you. I’ll be leaving now.” And with that, he too disappears in a flash.

Zack turns to a moaning Ryuu on the ground. He chuckles out loud. “Heh, kids these days, eh, Ryuu?”

“Shut up.”

The dusty air whistles past Rill as he soars through the seemingly never-ending and barren hinterlands. The dark horizon up ahead looms closer and closer. Yet even so, the night begins to give way to a faint grayness that would be picturesque if not for the dire weather conditions.

‘Back there, she left so fast she didn’t even remember to finish healing Ryuu…’ Rill contemplates, as the cold air begins to bite at his exposed skin. He brings his collar closer to his cheeks. ‘Why does she have to chase after a monster like this? Why does she insist on doing all this for him?’

Thunder continues to clash overhead, as the sky appears to be literally tearing itself asunder. The shadow of the beast Lilith grows larger with every passing minute, as it roams the Night World unattended, its masters long dead.

“More importantly…” Rill gasps out loud, “just what the hell is going on with the sky?”

“Please, Kunai, do not subject yourself to this sinful behavior!” Lily begs, tears in her eyes, as she continues to back away from Kunai.

She trips over a pebble, and Kunai catches her by the arm as she falls. He tears into her soul with his gleaming yellow eyes, with bright crimson pupils right at the center of each. Kunai raises his sword against Lily, pressing it against her chest. “This shall not be painful, Lily, I promise.”

“No, please—!” Lily begs, but it is too late; Kunai swings his sword, poised to extract the Third Phoneme from his sister at last.

But at the last second, a shining white light comes flying out of nowhere. A splinter of holy light impales Kunai directly in the hand. The recoil forces him to lower his sword and let go of Lily, who scampers out of harm’s way almost immediately.

Kunai turns wrathfully at the direction of the shooter. Standing right in front of him, holding up the remnants of a Holy Arrow, is Ivy. The wisps of holy magic hovering around her arms disappear altogether, as Ivy breathes heavily, having only just caught up to Kunai.

With the enraged eyes of a Paradox, Kunai stares into Ivy’s equally yellow eyes, which are burning with the red light of a Paradox as well. “Damn, I missed on the first try,” Ivy murmurs to herself.

“Ivy,” Kunai says smugly, “what the hell are you doing here?”

Ivy takes a deep breath, struggling not to show any sign of weakness at all. At last, she opens her mouth: “Because I love you, Kunai, I shall defeat you here and now!”