Way Too Many Legs – Part 2

“Oh, Fianna! You didn’t need to get involved in this,” Marielle said, with a smile so sweet it bordered on the sickly.

“Marielle.” The elf said, turning to her friend. “Of course I had to get involved when I was the one who brought these two into the city.”

“It wasn’t your fault you were being tricked—”

“Takashi. Answer these questions truthfully,” Fianna said, interrupting the governor. “If not, I’ll cut you down right here myself.”

I squared her eyes, not flinching for one second. “Back to how we met each other, eh? Bring it. I have nothing else to hide.”

“First question. Is the Skill Scroll that Marielle showed you a forgery?”

“It is.”

“Then second question. Is Chloe truly Yzara the Demon Queen, as Marielle said?”

“I am,” Yzara answered.

“Third question. Are you responsible for the situation going on in the world right now? Are you the source of the White Death?”

“No. If anythin’, it wants me dead. It’s my enemy as much as it is to everyone else.”

“Fourth and final question.” She paused, glanced back at her friend for just a bit longer. “Is Marielle really infected?”

“She is,” I said resolutely.

“Very well.” With that single sentence, Fianna unsheathed her scimitar, and backed to our side. “That means she’s my enemy, too.”

“Fianna. What’s the meaning of this?” Marielle said with a low voice, almost a growl. “Why are you siding with the Demon Queen instead of your friend?”

I was confused, too. We barely knew Fianna, and her relationship with Marielle seemed to stretch back years. I remember the NPC Fianna had been a serious person, whose trust was difficult to gain in Arcforge—and that seemed to be true here in this real version of Iditath as well.

“I went back and forth on whether to get involved. But your actions have been suspicious, to say the least. What really sealed my misgivings was your reaction to the Debuggun when we visited you that night.” She paused, as if letting her words sit. “You never asked if Tanney was doing okay after being saved by the gun. And you never asked to see it for yourself—as if you already knew of its existence, its power, and were afraid Takashi used it on you. All you seemed concerned about was obtaining it at all costs. And then, you called me to the side.”

“Ugh…” Marielle said.

“Remember? You said to me that, no matter what, Takashi and Chloe couldn’t have this item. You asked me to steal it from them if I had the chance, and even kill them if necessary.”

So that’s what they were referring to back in the Airdrake!

“That snake. She asked that of ya?”

“She did. Fair to say, this was a far cry from the benevolent Marielle I knew. I was shocked at such a request. I decided to judge you two myself during our trip to the Hardos Mountains. And despite knowing you were hiding something more, I know you are trustworthy. You saved Tanney out of the goodness of your heart, and that action speaks louder than any sweet words.”

There’s that word again. Trust. Fianna trusted us, and those bonds became stronger than the ones she had back with Marielle, who betrayed her trust. Despite hiding so much from her, we did enough good to convince her otherwise.

“I’m sad about this betrayal, Fianna,” Marielle said, dropping any semblance of appeasement. “But I suppose the Demon Queen’s influence has reached and corrupted you too. Soldiers, arrest them all!”

Trust and bonds are all nice and pretty, but they won’t get us out of this mess alone!

I readied myself as best I could. Will we have to fight them off?

But then I realized none of the soldiers were moving. When I looked at them, they were literally frothing at the mouth, unmoving.

“What’s going on? What have you done?!”

“Oh-oh? Mind Break? That’s a high-level Profane Magic spell,” Yzara said, impressed. “Did you learn it by any chance, Takashi?”

“Nah, it wasn’t me,” I said with a grin. I knew exactly the person who had used it. After all, she had shown it to me before. “She got it back, huh?”

“Yes. We got enough money from our trip that Tanney could relearn Mind Break.” Tanney, you go, girl! “I told her and Keil to stand guard and assist us if negotiations broke down. But that won’t buy us much time. Takashi. Chloe. The Airdrake crew are willing to assist you as much as we can. Give me whatever orders you want.”

Suddenly, we went from no allies to three. I still wasn’t sure if this would be the best thing to do. Both for me and the rest of this world.

But I was willing to try out that secret fourth option.

No, I was willing to trust it would all go well.

From my Hero’s Bag I pulled out a sack of coins, the same one we had just gotten from the Miners Guild—and shoved it in the Demon Queen’s hands.

“Yzara. Go and unseal Dark Ruler.”

Yzara’s hand hovered over the pouch, not quite grabbing onto it. “Are…are ya sure? But—”

I knew why she was hesitating. Would she remain herself after getting her magic back? Would her memories of the past one hundred years be erased? And what about her role as priestess, healing and helping people? I had told her that after she got the Dark Ruler class back, her Holy Magic classes and skills would be sealed in turn—but that was a lie. She’d be able to keep all her skills, and then some.

“You’ll be fine. Trust me.”

There it was again. That intangible thing called trust.

I trusted she wouldn’t betray me after she got her power.

In turn, I was asking her to trust me that she would be okay.

And that mutual trust was the thing that would get us out of this.

“Okay, Takashi,” she said, grabbing it as tightly as she could. “I’ll do it.”

“Now go!”

Dodging the stunned guards, Yzara ran up the staircase leading to the Temple of the Seven. She was lighting-fast, but still—

“Greater Light Strike!”

A bolt of light shot out of Marielle, hitting the temple stairs right where Yzara had just been. Fortunately, she dodged it just in time, and managed to enter the Temple.

“Tsk. That sneaky rat. The temple is indestructible, too. Guess I’ll just have to deal with you two and your friends myself.”

Just as we were about to square off against Marielle—

“Eeek!”

A screech came from somewhere among the crowd. When we turned around, we saw a commotion happening.

“Damn it, they got Tanney!” Fianna screamed.

As Tanney’s magic was interrupted, the soldiers returned to their senses on their own. Realizing what had happened to them, they didn’t hesitate in turning their guns on us.

“Ah! Your friend has been captured, and the soldiers have returned to their senses. Give up. There’s no way out.”

“Takashi,” Fianna asked, her voice noticeably trembling. “Can you cure Marielle of the infection like you did with Tanney?”

“She said I couldn’t earlier, but… it would depend on when was the last biggest change in her life. Getting into a party, or… becoming governor.”

A governor was an actual role an NPC could have, which would also make them unable to be recruited into a player’s party.

“Marielle became the governor of Adaville two years ago,” Fianna said. “But… I have a feeling she was already infected by then.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Marielle had never shown any interest in politics, or even shown any leadership capabilities. All she cared about was healing people. But then, all of a sudden… she changed. Ever so slightly.”

“She changed…” A clear sign of the infection. “In that case… I think it’s a lost cause.”

Fianna bit her lip, as if resigned. “Okay. For now, we just need to buy time for Yzara to come back.”

However, that was easier said than done. There were all the soldiers surrounding us, and Marielle to contend with. Tanney had been captured, so we couldn’t rely on her Profane Magic to stun them.

Hold on, am I not missing someone…?

As soon as I had that thought—

“Seeker Light Arrow!”

A piercing bolt of lighting shot out from the blue sky. It exploded just above our heads, scattering tiny darts of light everywhere. Each of them hit one of the soldiers, blinding the poor chaps and sending them tumbling to the floor.

“Keil!” Fianna shouted.

We looked up in the direction of the light source. From the top of the temple, Keil waved back at us, bow in hand.

You can’t use offensive skills inside the Temple, but you could use them on top of it just fine!

“Tanney said she’ll be fine! Just hold on a bit longer!” He screamed back at us.

“Keil…” Marielle said, gritting her teeth. “Hmph. I suppose I ought to get serious now.”

“Marielle…?!”

From Marielle’s back spurted out a black mist, a sort of dark miasma that rolled out like a thick, revolting fog. It looked similar to the Black Mist Explosion the griffin used back on the Airdrake, but somehow,/ this felt controlled.

“What the heck is she doing?!”

The miasma slithered like a snake, filling the plaza and enveloping the soldiers in its thick fog. It crept up their legs and torso, with the poor chaps starting to look pale. Eventually, it enveloped even their faces, with all of them collapsing onto the floor, fully submerging in mist.

“She’s using the White Death to absorb their energy…! We gotta do something!”

“But it’s not like we can cut through the fog, right?

“Leave it to me!” I heard Keil shout. “Meteor Light Strike!”

Keil shot off his seeker missiles. They lit up the plaza where they landed, but the mist quickly destroyed and absorbed the light.

“Their mana… I can feel it coming into me… GAWAAAHHHHRRRR!”

Marielle's body quickly to morph. The thicker miasma coalesced into a black reptilian-looking torso on her back, with six muscular appendages jutting out. These “legs” elevated the governor’s limp and emaciated body upwards, leaving her hanging like she was a discarded cicada shell. The saintly human face was but a pale mask that no longer covered her true essence.

What the fuck is that?! Gross!

Nothing like that had ever existed in Arcforge. An original, White Death-fueled spider-like monstrosity.

“Marielle, what has happened to you?! How could you do this?!”

But by this point, her humanity was far gone.

We basically had no time to react. She didn’t call out her attack name or anything—one of the legs shot out in a wide arc, sending me flying. My head hit the stone floor of the plaza hard, making me lose my sight for a moment. Had this not been a fantasy world, I’d probably have my gray matter splattered across the floor by this point.

When my sight finally returned, I saw Fianna, holding on using her scimitar. She managed to put enough strength into it that she cut a reptilian leg off. However, from in front of her, two more swatted her aside like a fly. The leg she cut quickly repaired itself, as if no damage had been done at all.

Then, in a moment, the sky became obscured. When I managed to understand what was happening, Marielle was far above me, her body hanging limply like a creepy doll, eyes white and vacant. Those reptilian legs made a sort of cage around me, blocking the view of the sky.

“If I can’t get Yzara, I’ll at least kill you and get the Debuggun!!”

Her body descended, her human arms reaching out to me. Her smile was deranged, far beyond the calm façade she had before. The monster body was brute and ugly, but her human body was still somewhat delicate. I tried to move and use a spell—anything I could to stop her—but my body ached way too much from the fall and refused to move. Her hands reached out to my waist, snatching the Hero’s Bag containing the Debuggun from me.

“With this, Master will be so pleased…!”

“Marielle, stop!” When I looked in her direction, Fianna was trying to stand up, although her body was clearly hurt, too. “What happened to you? Why did you come to this?”

“...You wouldn’t get it, Fianna. What you call ‘the White Death’ is actually a gift from God… this world’s true God! After I got this gift, I could see things so clearly. You are all living a lie!”

“F-Fianna… don’t listen to her. She’s way too far gone.”

“But,” the monster said with a creepy smile. “I have nothing else to say to you. We don’t have space for anyone who refuses to submit. May we never meet again, my friend.”

“Wait, Marielle…!”

But the monster wasn’t listening. With my Hero’s Bag securely in her hands, she began scurrying out of the plaza.

At this rate, she’ll keep the gun! I thought as Fianna helped me get up.

“Luminary Arrow!” We heard Keil shout from the top of the temple. His attack hit the monster torso squarely on, but it was totally ineffective.

You know, now would be a great time for her to show up—

“Hey, is the ground rumbling?” Fianna said.

“It—it is…!”

I could definitely feel a slight tremor on the ground. After I noticed it, it only became stronger and stronger.

“Not just the ground. The air is changing too!”

The sky, filled with smoke from the wood mills and Marielle’s leftover miasma, began to swirl. The vapor condensed into clouds that darkened and darkened unnaturally. And then, as if coming from the heavens themselves, a bolt of black lighting shot out directly into the Temple itself, shaking the ground, the air, and everything in between. The sound was so loud it was almost like a jet engine had been turned on right on top of the Temple.

“Woah, what’s happening?!”

“Eh-eh.” I grinned like I had never done in this world. “About time she showed up.”

The air was electrified with dark energy. The clouds forming on the sky descended, blanketing the entire plaza with a rolling dark blue fog. And then, from the Temple’s entrance, came a lonely figure.

Her twin black horns were on full display, as was her single bat wing and her long, thin black tail. The priestess outfit was gone, replaced by her trademark highly revealing two-piece outfit. However, unlike when I first found her, she now had a crown and a bright red mantle attempting to cover her up. But, as if to not completely break with the persona she had been using so far, she held her Priestess’ Staff squarely in her hands.

“Now there’s the Demon Queen Yzara I know.”

“That would be me,” she said with a sinister smile that fit her oh so well. “Time to finish this.”