Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna get sued by a lot of companies one day.

Episode 75 The Presence of Light

“There’s no way you can win, Rill.” Kunai waves his sword loftily in the air. “Unless—” Kunai suddenly freezes, gasping as he grabs his face with his gloved hand. Several lines of shock make their way into his face, as he grimaces painfully.

Rill watches in wonder, amazed at the sudden transformation in Kunai’s face.

Rill tenses up, watching Kunai nervously. He braces himself, raising his Sapphire Slain in front of himself, in case of an unprecedented attack. ‘What the heck’s going on with Kunai…?’

Kunai gasps for air for some time, until finally, he shakes his head, rubbing his forehead slightly. His right arm shakes slightly, as his battle stance withers and his sword gradually lowers. Then, all of a sudden, his jerky movements grow calm again, and he raises his head, his eyes dark spheres of indifference once more.

“Damn headaches,” he hisses, raising his sword once more. “Now, where were we?”

Rill stares at Kunai, at a loss for words. ‘What was that just now? That was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen…’

The next second, however, he is forced to dodge and lunge forward, narrowly avoiding a direct blow to the head from behind by Kunai. Unfazed, Kunai swings again, much harder this time, as Rill is forced again to jerk out of the way, leaping frantically away.

Rill scuttles behind the shadow of a large, humming computer in the room. ‘Damn, it hurt just feeling the wind from those attacks by Kunai’s sword…I’d better be careful not to get hit by one of them.’

Meanwhile, Rill reaches once more into his empty holster, mournfully. ‘What a bad time to run out of stars! I should’ve told Ivy to stop by Ellinia so I could recharge. This is quite the pinch that I’m stuck in now…’

In the sudden quiet, a faint crackling noise begins growing louder and louder behind Rill. Perplexed, he turns around, only to shout in alarm as the entire computer shielding him from view splits in half with one great, thunderous roar.

As the two sides of the split computer fall apart, Kunai appears in the rift, holding his sword in the air. “Let’s not play hide-and-seek, Rill,” Kunai says sneeringly.

‘Uh-oh!’ Rill thinks, flying out of the way as Kunai charges straight at him, tearing down the wall in the process as his sword smashes straight into empty wall.

Rill turns as he watches Kunai recklessly jerk his sword out of the crumbling wall. He lands on top of a large, cylinder-shaped machine, perching on it like a bird. “Man…I’m in so much trouble!” he mumbles to himself, feeling around his clothes for stars. “I have absolutely nothing to strike back with!”

All of a sudden, Rill feels a sudden surge of wind right by his side. He scatters away just in time, as Kunai brings his sword with devastating force crashing into the metallic cylinder. The mysterious machine explodes with a thunderous bang, with several sparks of yellow fireworks flashing dangerously.

Rill lands in a crouched position on another machine nearby, breathing heavily. He skids on the slippery metal surface of the machine, plopping out of control onto his back.

“Ow…my back!” Rill groans, lying face up on top of the machine. A nasty cracking sound comes from his back. He slithers into an upright position, grabbing his back. His hand meets the Steely still protruding from his bloody back.

Rill’s eyes widen instantaneously, as he feels the Steely in his back. ‘It’s the same one from earlier…! The one Kunai’s clone attacked me with…’

Without thinking, Rill removes the Steely from his back, holding it carefully in his hand, as if treating it like a precious artifact. ‘But how did I manage to survive that attack…?’ Rill wonders, feeling around his back. As he removes his hand, he notices a large clump of dirt.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me…’ Rill thinks, prying off several more clumps of hardened patches of dirty from his back. ‘The dirt is still there from when I fell the other day…talk about having some major klutzy luck.’

However, Kunai suddenly brings Rill back to reality, as he tracks down Rill and slashes apart Rill’s newest perching spot. Rill leaps down from the heavy machinery as it capsizes.

Holding the Steely in his teeth, he crawls up from all fours, turning to face Kunai. ‘All right. One star. I’ve gotta make this one count!’

Meanwhile, Kunai slowly draws his sword back up from the rubble of the latest destroyed machine. He turns around to face Rill, only to find that he has yet again disappeared. His eyes roam for several seconds around the room. “Dark Sight?” he wonders out loud.

Rill slowly shifts into hiding behind another large, cylinder-shaped machine, pressing his body against its cool, metallic frame. Its indifferent hum drones softly in his ear.

Sneakily, Rill peers over from the rim of the cylinder, straight at Kunai, who looks straight past him. ‘Phew, at least with Dark Sight on, he can’t see me. But even if I try to escape, there are no easy exits from this room. He’ll have to notice me opening a door or something. Geez, guess I gotta go through with this and take Kunai out after all. I hate fighting!’

Kunai continues to gaze around, straining his ears and listening intently for the slightest sound, or sign of Rill moving about. All of a sudden, footsteps sound loudly behind him, seemingly magnified throughout the room by echoes.

Kunai pounces immediately towards the cylinder, a mad gleam in his eyes as he raises his sword, ready to slice Rill to pieces. Out of the corner of the cylinder, he spots Rill’s shadow as he sprints out of view, desperately running away in order to hide.

“I’ve got you, Rill!” Kunai announces triumphantly.

“No,” Rill says softly, a smirk on his face as he emerges right behind Kunai. “I’ve got you.”

Kunai’s eyes widen in shock, as he spins around, too late, as Rill plants the Steely deep within Kunai’s shoulder, forcing him to the ground wincing in pain.

Kunai falls to his knees, screaming and gasping in pain, clutching his already-injured shoulder again, as Rill stares down at him. “It was a pathetic trick and bluff, but it looks like simplicity still got you in the end. Using Dark Sight, I ran out of view and reappeared, and, using the lighting in this room to my advantage, I made it seem as though my shadow was following me out from behind the cylinder behind you, when I was really hiding in the cylinder in front of you!

“And of course, that’s when I took the opportunity to strike.” Rill folds his arms in triumph. “In the end, I got a clear shot right on your shoulder blade. You won’t be moving that right arm of yours very comfortably for a while.”

Kunai continues to jerk around painfully on the floor, as he groans and shouts incoherently. “D-Damn you…!” Kunai howls, staring at Rill with popping, mad eyes.

All of a sudden, in a desperate move, Kunai grabs his fallen sword with his left hand, clutching it dangerously in his hand, and swings. However, he gives another shout, and drops the sword, just as Rill leaps out of the way in anticipation of the unexpected attack.

Rill watches, horrified, as Kunai lies sprawled on the floor, twitching madly as he grabs his forehead, rocking around in a complete, chaotic fray. “Damn you, you piece of garbage! I’m going to kill—”

“What the…hell is going on here?!” Rill cries, terrified.

“G-Go…!” Kunai gasps suddenly, in between his grotesque moans of pain. He waves his unhurt arm, signaling for Rill to flee. In one moment, Kunai looks up at Rill, an innocent, sincere look in his eyes. “Leave now…while you have the chance, Rill! L-Leave…while…I’m hurt and incapable of chasing after you!”

“What…what are you talking about, Kunai?!” Rill mutters fearfully. ‘It’s as if his personality did a complete one-eighty. Now all of a sudden, he’s telling me to go, and surrendering?! It’s gotta be some sort of trick.’

“I-It’s not a…a…a trick, Rill!” Kunai gasps, as if reading his mind. “My mind is clear now…go…go rescue…I…vy…”

With one last, gasping effort, Kunai collapses completely onto the floor, having fainted. Rill remains standing still, horrified. ‘He mentioned Ivy with his last breath…was this the true Kunai speaking? Or…’

Rill glances down at the floor, where the Steely he’d stabbed Kunai with is still lying on the floor. He picks it up, taking note of the blood, both his and Kunai’s, dripping from it.

Absentmindedly, Rill pockets the knife, and with one last glance at Kunai, turns away. ‘Kunai…I don’t know what’s going on exactly, but I’ll do exactly as you said. I’m going to take Ivy, but at the same time, I can’t help but hope things turn out well for you, too…that one day, you’ll be with us again.’

The soft, comforting hum of wind flapping by at high speeds reigns supreme in the cold, empty air. A darkened vista hangs in the stillness, with the quiet fluttering of leaves drifting idly far and away.

Ivy opens her eyes to the crisp, cold air about her. She blinks hard, rubbing her eyes wearily. She stares around blankly for a bit, watching the forest trees speed past her blurrily, as snowcapped mountains approach her off in the distance, eventually dropping out into rocky, treeless cliffs and canyons.

“Huh? Where am I?” Ivy mutters. She shifts her head, to get a better view of the person carrying her on his shoulder.

“We’re heading out to Perion, Ivy,” Rill replies, his voice strangely gloomy. “By early tomorrow morning, we’ll be back with Ryuu and the others.”

“But…Haven…” Ivy mumbles slowly, obviously confused.

Rill sighs, his voice heavy. “When I finally found you in Haven, the guards had left you unguarded for approximately ten minutes, in order to get Lord Gilford. It was lucky that I found you in time. They’d drugged you, apparently, and I was afraid you’d need medical attention, but it doesn’t seem like it. Anyway, I decided that it was high time the two of us got out of there, before we landed in even worse trouble.”

“But, Rill…” Ivy murmurs distractedly, “Kunai…?”

Rill bites his lip, hesitating for a moment. ‘I was afraid she’d ask about him…’

“Rill?” Ivy inquires, after a few lengthy moments of heavy silence.

“He…wasn’t in Haven, Ivy.”

Next Time: Episode 76 Deliverymen

Otis: Oi! Next time, we finally return to the epic adventures of Lord Otis and his loyal followers! It’s a ‘don’t miss!’

Episode 76 Deliverymen coming soon!