Eehh..

Episode 97 The Fatal Trap

Ryuu raises his sword angrily and faces up against Ice. He leaps in front of Lily, throwing out an arm in front of her. “There’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you take—”

But within a moment, the task is done. Ryuu feels the wind rush past him, yet as he turns in amazement, he realizes Lily is still standing behind him. “The hell—”

Ryuu’s voice stutters to a croak as he finds Ice grasping a struggling Sasha firmly to his side. Ryuu’s eyes widen in shock just as everyone else realizes what’s going on.

He cuts the air violently with his sword, rounding on Ice with an expression of utmost rage. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with her?!”

“You shall find out,” Ice hisses bluntly.

Ryuu sprints wrathfully towards Ice. “Screw that, I’ll make you tell me!”

But before Ryuu even reaches Ice, the latter vanishes from the battlefield without a trace. Ryuu slams his sword frustratingly into the empty ground, yelling out loud as he does so. “Goddammit…!”

“Why would they take Sasha instead of Lily?” Ayame wonders out loud. “Lily would obviously be the more valuable to us of the two…”

“That’s not it,” Shuriken answers, “their goal in taking Sasha was to eliminate our ability to travel through this world. Without her, we do not know the way.”

“Even so,” Ryuu growls, “we can’t risk the fact that they may be scheming to take Lily as well. She’s the Third Phoneme, remember? Anybody would like to have her powers in their hands.”

“Then why couldn’t they have simply taken me when they had the chance now?” Lily asks. “It would have saved them a lot of trouble.”

“Most likely because even they know their limits,” George chips in with a grunt, “no matter how powerful each individual Fatalist is, they’re no match for an entire force of armed men. They’d have to split us all up and defeat us individually for them to have even a remote chance of securing the Phoneme.”

“Regardless,” Ryuu snarls, “our main priority is to rescue Sasha now. Without her, there’s way we’d even be able to navigate this world sufficiently.”

“Where would we even begin?” Silver inquires. “We don’t even have an idea where they could have taken her.”

“Most likely Skylark City,” Shuriken replies, “since it is the closest city. By capturing Sasha, their goal is surely to lure us towards them. I doubt they’d head anywhere else where we wouldn’t be able to track them.”

“Off to Skylark City, then,” Ryuu growls, “let’s go! I don’t wanna waste any more time than we already have!” Ryuu grabs his sword eagerly, but Ayame grabs his arm, holding him back.

“Hold on, Ryuu,” Ayame says. “We should split up. Skylark City is enormous. Remember how lost we were even with Sasha’s guidance last time? We need to split into smaller groups.”

“Are you insane?” Ryuu protests. “That’s exactly what they want us to do. We’d be falling into their trap!”

“No,” Ayame retorts, “their trap is probably to take Lily by forcing us to split up. Their trap is a failure if we don’t have Lily with us! Have George take Lily and the rest of our troops and go. The rest of us will stay behind in Skylark and track down the Fatalists!”

Ryuu sighs, pausing for a moment and considering Ayame’s words. “All right,” he says at last, “George, take Lily and head east. Me, Ayame, Silver, Zack, and Shuriken will stay put and rescue Sasha. We’ll catch up once we’re done here.”

“Very well, then,” George replies with a low growl. “And…Wing?” He turns somberly to stare at Wing’s motionless and bloody body on the ground.

Ryuu closes his eyes gravely. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do. Honor him, give him a proper burial, and then make sure you protect Lily no matter what. I’m sure that’s all he could’ve asked for.”

“I see,” George nods quietly. He nods again, and turns towards Wing’s body. “Let us go, Wing.”

For a long while, Ryuu, Ayame, Silver, Zack, and Shuriken watch morosely as George picks up Wing in his arms and directs the rest of the gathered men to follow him on their Cargoes. George clambers onto his own Wild Cargo, while Lily joins him at his side.

Standing at the peak of a skyscraper under the pitch-black night is a dark-robed man. He stares down at the distant ground far below, lit up by floating orbs of electric light emitted by the various city buildings. The night breeze plays gently at his hair, which is tied up in a ponytail of sorts.

“Recelo,” a coarse voice suddenly hisses behind the man.

Recelo turns around nonchalantly, grinning slightly at the sight of the second man behind him. “Ice,” he says out loud, “quick as ever at getting the job done.”

Ice stands plainly in front of Recelo, dragging an unconscious Sasha behind him. Recelo raises his eyebrow, and leans forward curiously. “Hey, you didn’t kill her, did you?”

“Of course not,” Ice retorts coldly, “she was merely being noisy, so I silenced her.”

“Heh, all right, then,” Recelo replies with a sneer. “So how’s the plan going?”

“It is turning out quite well,” Ice answers. “Those persistent humans shall be arriving within the bounds of the city soon enough. Remember, your job is to capture the Phoneme, but do not kill her. You may kill the others should they interfere.”

Ice stares down at Sasha’s unconscious body on the ground. “Eliminate as many of the Joukai as possible. By capturing this girl, they will undoubtedly follow. Her importance to them in this world is multiplied tenfold. However, our trap awaits them, and casualties will then be inevitable.”

Recelo nods. “All right, then, boss. If that’s all, then I’ll go ahead and relay your orders to the others hidden throughout the city.”

“That shall be all,” Ice replies. “Remember—this mission is of utmost importance. Failure is unforgivable. If we succeed, then this shall be the beginning of the end of this world.”

“Heh, yeah, I got it,” Recelo retorts, “ya don’t have to lecture me. I know how important success in this mission is to our cause. There’s no way we’ll fail. I mean, the balance of the world lies in our hands, blah, blah, blah.”

“Very well,” Ice answers, “then I shall remind you of one more thing: show no display of mercy.”

“You hear me?” Ryuu shouts loudly, as Ayame, Silver, Zack, and Shuriken stand around him in a circle. “Failure in this mission is unacceptable. We still don’t know for sure what the Fatalists are planning, but one thing remains certain. The fate of all our worlds rests in our hands. We cannot lose to the Fatalists!”

“Yeah!” the others cry in unison, grasping their weapons.

“We shall split up into the three rescue groups that I’ve already designated,” Ryuu growls, “under no circumstances are you to abandon your teammate! We are going up against the Fatalists, remember that! Do not get proud, do not get arrogant. Do not believe for one second you will win for sure! Fight as if every moment were your last!

“Do not even celebrate victory! We can celebrate after we defeat the Fatalists and rescue Sasha!” Ryuu falls silent, and glances quickly at each face in the circle. “And most importantly…don’t die. Are you all ready?”

“Yes!” the others cry again in unison.

“Then let’s go!” Ryuu howls, as the circle falls apart into three separate groups.

Ryuu immediately heads alone straight into Skylark City; meanwhile, Ayame and Silver advance towards one corner of the city, while Zack and Shuriken take the other.

Next Time: Episode 98 Catching the Butterfly in the Net; Episode 99 Goodbye Friends; Episode 100 The Ocean of Darkness

Arai: All right, readers! Stay tuned, because the next update will come in an epic Christmas Day Extravaganza! Brace yourselves for a colossal three-chapter marathon on December 25th! We will be celebrating the holiday with a Christmas treat in anticipation of Tales of a Lost World’s 100th chapter!

Episode 98 Catching the Butterfly in the Net; Episode 99 Goodbye Friends; Episode 100 The Ocean of Darkness coming soon!