User blog:Baluar/Epilogue+Arc 3 beginning... OHH, FLAMING SWORD!!

    Two years later, and in a different place…

-They are too many for us! – Lindow shouts.

-It’s good to know it, Lindow! I didn’t realize it! – I answer.

-Nia! Lindow! Focus in the fight! – Alisa shouts. She’s definitely got a point: the three of us are having a lot of trouble in dealing with a Fallen Ogretail invasion. They are individually not a problem, but we need to hold the line against literally a few hundreds of them… or even more.

-Nia! – I hear Fran through the comm-link. – Reinforces are en route.

-How long will they take?!

-I don’t know. Maybe 10 minutes or so.

And we need to hold the line for a little longer while, slowly becoming aware that we’re getting overwhelmed bit by bit. And then, he came.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">He really did make a dramatic entrance. Rather than coming the normal way, Baluar jumped off the cliff in the East of the Tranquil Temple (near the place we were in). He landed with both legs and one hand, the other hand holding his God Arc. He cracked his knuckles and took his Arc from his back. It looks more metallic than before… He shouted:

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-See this, monsters? – Strangely, his scream made all the Fallen Ogretails look at him. – This is your doom. – He then pressed a button in the handle of his Arc and it literally got on fire. He can’t resist it.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">With that weapon, he opened up a way through the Ogretails in no time (them being frost and his weapon being literally on fire helped). Each swing caused several Ogretails to go down, whereas we were lucky if we killed one of them with several slashes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-You really needed to do that exaggerated entrance? – I asked when it all finished.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Nah, but don’t tell me it didn’t look awesome. And this proved a good occasion to test the metal we got almost two years ago when we were searching for Rachel…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Suddenly, I remember the flaming Ogretail…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Licca really did a good job, didn’t she? – Lindow asks.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Hell yeah! And Ken gave a hand, too. This thing is awesome, but it’s too bad it’s not as powerful against blazing Aragami. – Baluar answers.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Let’s head back. We have already fulfilled our mission. – Alisa says.

<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">And we begin our return to base.

That is, until we find an Ogretail corpse with a hole in its head, through which all blood was drained, and used to write an ominous message:

"Rachel is back. She's attacking the Den." [For story purposes, Ogretails now have blood. If they didn't have before.]

-Holy shit. - Baluar comments. - We're screwed up, big time.

-Who's to say that isn't a lie? - Lindow asks.

-I don't know if it is a lie, or not, but I'm running to the Den to check out. - Without any more comments, he begins to run.

-Damn, he's always so rash. - Alisa cursed, while going there too.

I go behind them, and I hear Lindow coming, too.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Later… <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">When we finally get home, we see that whoever wrote the blood message wasn’t kidding. The Den has been overrun by Aragami. The Ogretail invasion we fought off is nothing compared to this, hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of them [CANNON FODDER B*TCHES]… They are all over the place. We proceed to exterminate them (my flaming Arc is notably effective, cutting through them like they were hot butter. I really have to thank Licca and Ken for this), and then we search for survivors. I am the first to find someone, Lili, who coughs when she sees me, but is obviously relieved:

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Baluar-san! *cough* I had thought… you wouldn’t return.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Lili! What happened here?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Rachel… *cough* She somehow survived your attack on her and came here to destroy the Den, probably as… *cough* as some sort of revenge.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Has Cradle’s mobile fortress been attacked as well?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-No… not as far as I know.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Then don’t speak anymore. We’ll take you there to take care of you, as well as anyone who still lives.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-There’s… *cough* There’s no-one else alive here.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-How do you know?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-I told everyone to run, that I would act as distraction *cough*… there were a few dead guys before that, though. I feel sorry for them…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Isn't that a bit reckless, to stay fighting against hundreds of Aragami? Nevermind. Are you certain that no one else is alive here? I don’t want any deaths in my mind… – She nods her head in an affirmative gesture. I then lift her in my arms, with my Arc in the back. – Everyone! There’s nothing here left alive. Lili is the only one who contained the wave of Ogretails that attacked here while everyone else run to hide in the Mobile Fortress. Let’s take her back to Mobile Fortress and check on everyone else’s state.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The return to the Fortress has no-one speaking…