This chapter is exactly two words shorter than the last..o_O;

Episode 40 Rematch! Poison Arrow Versus Holy Arrow

Off in the horizon, the sky slowly begins to fall into a muddled collage of orange, pink, and fuchsia clouds as the sun heads into decline. Specks of black can be seen across the skyline as several flocks of large, foreign birds whirl about in some undecipherable signal.

Silver glances up at this sign, reading the interpretation. ‘This is bad…that’s the danger signal from 7th Station. They must be in some sort of trouble.”

Tide glares as the birds fly up high into the sky, and scatter away like breaking glass. “Silver…!”

She turns, her eyes no longer empty of emotion, but full of some demonic fury. “Are you still here?! I told you, leave this place, now! Go after Ivy and the others, they need you!”

“But Silver, 7th Station is—” Tide stutters.

“7th Station is none of your concern! They’ll be fine without you, now go!” Silver roars back.

Tide finally nods submissively. “Y-Yeah.” He turns, and with one quick glance back at Silver, disappears down the cobbled street in the direction Sasha, Ivy, Lily, and Shuriken had gone.

“Jirgen,” Silver announces commandingly. Jirgen steps forward from amongst the other men from 4th Station, bowing low to Silver. “Please take the others and lead them to Station 7. They’ll be needing you.”

“Yes, my Lady!” Jirgen replies obediently. He waves to the other men to follow him, all of them scrawny and weak of appearance. “And you, my Lady?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Silver mutters, biting her lip grimly. “I’ll be fine.”

As Jirgen and the others hurry away to the happenings at Station 7, Silver turns her attention back to Zack, who has been standing humbly nearby. He is leaning casually on his staff, and picking at his teeth with his index finger.

Zack immediately pauses in this action, turning back to Silver. “Ah, are we done now, my silvery treasure? If so, I think you owe me a battle.”

“I won’t give you a battle,” Silver snarls slowly.

Zack shuffles his feet, clenching his Kage slightly more tightly. “What did you say?”

“I said I won’t give you a battle,” Silver answers more clearly this time, “because I am going to give you death instead!”

“Heh,” Zack laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’ll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, here I come!”

Without warning, Zack disappears in a puff of blue, reappearing behind Silver and landing an unchallenged blow between her shoulder blades. Zack pulls back as he watches his glowing arrow sizzle momentarily in Silver’s back, before it vaporizes into the air.

Silver stumbles to one knee, clenching her Asianic Bow until her knuckles become white. “I…I didn’t see that.”

“Heh,” Zack laughs, “of course not.”

Silver’s eyes widen as she feels a powerful surge of mana course through her, disappear, and then formulate itself in front of her in the shape of a tall shadow. She looks up, and sees Zack standing in front of her.

“Y’know, some people say it’s bad luck when a mage teleports through you,” Zack smirks. He brings the crooked cow’s skull of his Kage up to rest just under Silver’s chin, tilting her head up with it. “Dunno if it’s true or not.”

Silver snarls at Zack, feeling the cruel, gnarled contours of the skull on her chin. She reaches forward to push his staff away, but her fingers feel nothing but cold, empty air.

Zack taps her lightly on the shoulder. “Behind ya, sweetie.”

Silver spins rapidly, but not before Zack fires another Holy Arrow straight into her shoulder, shocking her arm and sending her Asianic Bow skidding on the ground several feet away. Silver herself lands roughly on the ground, grasping her shoulder with her uninjured hand.

“My, my,” Zack fakes a false gasp of surprise. “Oh dear. Your pretty little bow’s quite a far ways away, eh? Here, lemme go get it for ya.”

“Don’t you even dare touch my bow!” Silver howls, inching forward desperately on the ground to reach her bow first. At last, she feels her own fingers clench around its golden shaft. With a heave, Silver rises from the floor, bleeding profusely from the shoulder and back.

However, she stands perfectly straight, ignoring her nagging injuries. She holds the Asianic Bow aloft in her two hands, with a quiver loaded with arrows strung across her unhurt shoulder.

“Oh my, oh my, oh my,” Zack cries, “I’ve angered you.” He shakes his head, as if wondering what to do. Suddenly, he snaps his fingers. “Well,” Zack announces abruptly, “I’ve grown pretty bored of this battle. So if ya don’t mind me leavin’, I’ll be hopping outta this scene soon.”

Suddenly, a glowing door appears out of thin air behind Zack, and he places his hand on the doorknob, holding it slightly ajar. “Well! See ya, Lady Silver!”

“W-Wait!” Silver cries, dashing forward. “Where do you think you’re going?!”

However, Zack merely slams the door in her face, leaving Silver to stare at its smooth surface. Suddenly, she feels a tap on her bleeding shoulder.

Silver flinches, clutching the shoulder, but at the same time she notices Zack standing halfway out of the threshold of a second door. Glancing about, Silver quickly finds herself wedged in between two Mystic Doors, with Zack standing behind her.

“Whoops!” Zack cries. “Guess this is the wrong exit. Ah well, s’long as I’m here, might as well have some fun! S’time to fight” Without warning, Silver feels another devastating blow to her other shoulder, and she lands on her face this time.

Scrambling around on the floor, she raises her head an inch to stare at Zack, who shakes his head in disapproval. “Tsk, tsk,” Zack murmurs, “that won’t do, eh? Your pretty little face’s all bruised n’ battered!”

Silver wipes the blackening bruise on her right cheek, and clambers to her feet again, holding her Asianic Bow more tightly than ever in case of another unanticipated attack.

“Geez,” Zack mutters, exponentially more serious this time. “You’re so slow. I like opponent’s that give me that thrill that comes with fighting. Don’t you have it? Last time we fought, now that was fun. But this time…what’s wrong?”

Zack watches as Silver’s eyes seem to twinkle, but then lose their glimmer. “Have ya…perhaps lost the will to fight? Or…” Zack’s lips curl into a twitching smirk. “Or are you just afraid to lose your own life now?”

Silver does not reply, but only glares stubbornly back at Zack, hatred looming in her faraway eyes. Zack nods, smiling satisfactorily to himself. “I see. It’s funny, eh? That time…you came at me with no sense o’ self-preservation whatsoever. I guess I’m just gonna have t’beat some o’ that anger and will to fight back into ya!”

In a blinding flash, Zack telecasts past Silver, coming to a halt before the flashing blue talons of his Magic Claw even begin to tear at Silver’s exposed flesh.

Silver falters yet again, collapsing to her knees as blood now rushes from her chest. She places a lithe arm forward to balance herself, trying to stifle a cough filled with her own blood.

‘I’ve never bled this profusely before…not when I fought him the last time, not even that time…when he died. Never, never, never.’ Silver’s eyes cloud over, as darkness consumes her range of vision. ‘Am I dying again? That time I was lucky. Someone found me. Tide found me the next time. But this time, there’s no one…he turned out to be evil. As for Tide, I sent him away. There’s no one. I’m always being rescued. The damsel in distress. However, this time…I have to save myself.’

“So you still had the power t’stand, eh?” Zack mutters, a slight tone of surprise contrasting the dominantly confident tone in his voice. “Well, well. You are something.”

Zack folds his arms as he compliments Silver, watching her stand rigidly in front of him, bleeding from practically all corners, but still willing to fight. She clutches her bow in hand, and holds an arrow with a greenish tinge to it aloft.

“I believe that’s the first time I saw them poison arrows in this battle,” Zack cries. “This you tellin’ me you’re finally ready to fight for real?”

“Listen up,” Silver murmurs quietly. Suddenly her voice blazes forward like a trumpet call. “I-DO-NOT-HOLD-BACK!” With a jerk, the poison arrow sings through the air, piercing Zack squarely on the chest.

Zack quickly stifles the look of shock on his face, rapidly pulling the arrow out. “That was pretty impressive, wasn’t it?” Zack admits. “I must compliment you. However…” Two enormous angel wings suddenly appear over Zack, and disappears with a flutter of falling feathers, as Zack purifies himself.

“You forgot once again that I’m a Priest. Them poisoned arrows don’t work on me. Sorry.” Zack waves his staff coldly, and with another quick summon, calls forth Zack Jr., his pet blue dragon.

Silver holds up two fingers, making a point to show them to Zack. “Fine. Then I shall fire two arrows at once.” She launches with frightening speed, and Zack feels two arrows tear into his flesh at the same time now.

His eyes widen, as he hurriedly rushes to pull them out of himself. ‘That one took me by surprise. I didn’t even see those arrows until they hit me! However, there’s still no difference.’

The angel wings appear over Zack’s head once more, cleansing him of the poison hidden in the arrows. “I keep tellin’ ya that it won’t work.”

Zack snaps his fingers again, spurring Zack Jr. forth. “C’mon, Zack Junior!” Zack Jr. soars through the air heading straight for Silver, who raises her bow in protest, batting it away with its shaft.

However, Zack Jr. counters by firing a powerful shot of white light. Silver knocks him back only just in time, avoiding a direct, fatal blow. She pants heavily, fatigued from both the effort and the wounds that are now beginning to produce a lag in her muscles.

Silver fires two arrows into the air, striking Zack Jr. both times. Together, the both of them collapse onto the floor, soaked in blood.

Zack rushes over, picking up the tiny dragon lightly and cradling it in his arms. “Yo! Zack Junior!” The dragon merely croaks feebly, the poison in Silver’s arrows beginning to take effect.

Zack angrily looks up, meaning to glare at Silver, but instead glaring at nothing. “Where’d she—?”

“Behind you!” Silver shouts, agilely moving on her feet. She dashes behind Zack, aiming an arrow dripping with poison into his open back.

Zack leans forward, his back grown rigid from the shaft of poisoned arrow poking out of it. He grovels on the ground, clutching at the smoking floor for several moments.

Silver lightly steps in front of Zack, the tips of her shoes resting very near to his forehead. She loosens the grip on her bow, staring down pitifully at Zack, who is temporarily rendered immobile. “Pathetic.”

Zack slowly pulls himself up, staring with a hardened face into Silver’s eyes. “You’re gonna pay for killin’ Zack Junior, you are!” He raises his staff, entering the pose necessary to cast his Holy Arrow. However, he stares at his palms wonderingly as nothing happens.

“It’s no use,” Silver interrupts, waving Zack off. “Your Holy Arrow’s not going to cast. That last arrow I hit you with was injected with a poison that seals your mana from you. You can’t cast spells anymore.”

“Wh…what?!” Zack cries in awe.

Silver shakes her head gravely. “Unlike you, I do not fight with flashy skills and predictable patterns. I base my attacks purely on logic. I do not waste my resources.

“At first, I was careful to only just watch and learn your teleportation patterns. You raise your staff about an inch or two just before you’re about to teleport. Once I had learned to predict which way you would teleport, it was easy to track your movements.

“Next, I had learned from our previous battle that my poisoned arrows would have no effect on you since you had that particular spell, Dispel. So I reformatted my own strategy to fit the situation. However, first I needed to gain your confidence.

“The first two times I hit you, those arrows were loaded with very weak poisons. Even an infant could suppress them without difficultly if trained to do so correctly. Once you had cast Dispel and realized you weren’t harmed at all, I knew you would grow confident that I couldn’t hurt you. So I decided to use your own confidence against you.

“I gained your trust, without you even realizing it. Once I had gained it, I used the opportunity to throw you off course, and so I landed that arrow in your back just now. It has separated you from your mana. The only antidote that would cure those afflictions lies with me. You cannot cast magic anymore.”

Zack fidgets restlessly on the ground, growling in fury at both himself and at Silver. “You—!” Zack shouts from the ground. “Cure me now!”

Silver reaches into the pocket of her robes, and withdraws from it a tiny vial of some purplish liquid. Zack reaches out gladly for it; however, Silver coldly throws it behind her, not even bothering to turn as it falls onto the floor, the tiny bottle shattering into millions of pieces.

Zack’s eyes widen momentarily, but he quickly recovers, leaping into the air, his fists clenched. “Then…! Then I’ll just fight you like this! Who needs magic?!” Zack casts his own Kage away, watching as it rolls pitifully on the ground, unable to be of any use to Zack.

However, before Zack can even aim a fist at Silver, she rapidly fires another arrow, nailing him in the abdomen. Zack flops right back down onto the ground again, twitching in pain.

Silver stands over him, just as the sun sets behind her in the sky, putting an end to the desperate day. Her shadow disappears along with the sun, as the world is thrown into an impenetrable darkness.

Streetlights burst into life all around them, creating feeble imitations of the shadows produced by the sun. Everywhere, the world lays in a quieted slumber, though its occupants do not.

Silver stares coldly at the hunched back of Zack. “I’ve hit you this time with a poison that will attack your nervous system, paralyzing it and thus leaving you unable to move. I must admit, it isn’t as effective as I’d hoped it’d be, since you’d still be able to move just a little bit, but there is no way you will be able to even stand now.”

Zack gasps, struggling to pull himself into a position to stand again, but fails to do so. “Damn. Am I doomed to lie here like this, and die, pathetic, like this?”

Silver only lowers her head grimly in reply, as she withdraws the last arrow from her quiver. “And this,” she murmurs, loading it into her bow, “this poison, will inflict death to its victim.” Half-turning away, Silver fires the last arrow, hitting Zack directly on the shoulder.

Zack screams, groveling loudly in protest, unable to get up. Silver stands pitifully looking down on him, her face half hidden in shadow.

However, Silver suddenly steps back, as she catches a glimpse of tears streaming down silently down Zack’s cheeks. The tears fall onto the concrete ground, leaving stains. “I…I…I just needed a way to save them, I did!”

“Wh…what are you talking about?” Silver gasps, surprise written all over her battle-scarred face. “Save who? What do you mean? You’re not making any sense!”

“I…needed to save them!” Zack mutters, groping at the heels of Silver’s shoes.

Silver nearly stumbles, losing her balance at Zack, who is now crying onto her feet. “What is wrong with you?! What’s up all of a sudden?! Who’s them?!” Silver’s voice rises into an unrecognizable pitch, as she stumbles from Zack’s surprisingly strong grip on her ankles.

“My…lil’ bro and my lil’ sis!” Zack stutters, choking now on his own tears. “They didn’t deserve to get attacked by them Paradoxes! They should be livin’ happy, carefree lives right now if it weren’t for me!”

Silver’s eyes widen in alarm at this unexpected proclamation. “I…I didn’t know…” she murmurs, awestruck. “I had no idea, that your…”

Zack chokes, crying incoherently into the air. Suddenly he begins foaming at the mouth, as large volumes of saliva spill onto the floor.

Silver steps back disgustedly, yet also saddened. She too, falters, falling to her knees and watching as Zack cries inarticulately. ‘The death poison’s irreversible. I wouldn’t be able to save him even if I knew how. Once he starts foaming at the mouth, that’s a sure sign that he’s going to…’

Zack suddenly stops moving altogether, his body lying still on the ground. Silver sways as well, her eyes closing as the pain from her injuries overwhelm her.

‘It’s finally over…’

Next Time: Episode 41 Shadow in the Light

Otis: Silver-gorilla figured out when Zack-gorilla was gonna teleport, but how did she know which way he was gonna go?

Silver: It’s women’s intuition.

Episode 41 Shadow in the Light coming soon!