The Unspoken Speaks the Obvious

Sir Didact tossed Akari from his shoulder, hitting the cold hard ground with a thud. Her head began to spin, her body still aching from the numerous fractured bones in her body. The puddle of rainwater seeped into her clothes, coating her right side in a muddy grime.

“Tell me, girl, what do you see?”

Akari’s vision slowly merged into one, revealing Sir Didact peering out at his surroundings. As she followed his line of sight, she found herself in an unfamiliar location. At first glimpse the place seemed completely foreign, but soon, small began began to stand out. Is this another village?

The design of the homes. The tools. Even the organization of plants. It reminded her of the encampment she and Azu found back in the woods. But oddly enough, it also bore an eerie similarity with her home in Kanmu-mura.

“Your mind is confused,” Sir Didact spoke as he circled around her, his limp unmistakenly lingering in each step. “Your memories contradict themselves. I saw the same thing more than once, yet never quite the same.”

As he paced around, Akari remained frozen, unable to find the strength to move. As if waiting for death to arrive.

Sir Didact crouched before her, his gaze piercing. “I have never witnessed someone’s death through their own memories.” He turned to the surrounding environment, sweeping his hands across the horizon. “This is where it happened. Every single time… The last known place to be home to the Futamata tribe.”

Akari’s eyes stretched like a canyon. To think it would be by Sir Didact’s hands that she would finally find what it was that she’d been in search of. Yet be unable grasp it within her hands… She struggled to meet his gaze, her head throbbing as she forced herself to speak.

“How do you know that?”

He stepped towards her, painfully yanking her neck back before clamping his hand over her head. “The answers are all in here.”

Akari fought as much as she could, but her broken body held her in place. Every limb screaming in agony as she vehemently tried to escape Sir Didact’s deep-dive. But she knew it would all be pointless…

“You are beyond my imagination. A jewel unblemished by this uncouth world.”

Sir Didact stopped dead in his tracks. Raising his head to none other than the presence of the Coordinator General.

He stood alone, appearing as an almost unassuming presence at first glance. Yet somehow there was stifling aura that emanated from him. That struck Akari with a crushing sense of trepidation.

His words floated like a poem. His gestures were delicate and astute, his demeanor well mannered. But through it all was a gut-wrenching stench that permeated, seeping out from deep within. A rotting of his spirit…

“Sir Didact!”

The General flicked his hand, beckoning him to his side. Sir Didact immediately stood to his feet, his pressing demeanor now suddenly shrunken and belittled. The general held his hands firmly behind his back with his posture firm, watching as Sir Didact adjusted his stance.

“No, no, no, no!” the general howled, “That won’t do.” He then began waving his hand in Akari’s direction. “You’ve damaged her.”

Sir Didact turned to the general with deep lines creasing his forehead. “I suggest you don’t let your guard down, general,” he warned, but the general stood firm on his request. Sir Didact lamented the unexpected presence of the general, wondering where he’d gone wrong in ensuring he wasn’t followed. Regardless, he knew he was in no position to quarrel any further.

He lifted Akari from the floor, holding her steady as she writhed in pain.

“Pfft!”

Akari showered his face with spit as a burning fury raged within her eyes. Sir Didact wiped his face clean with his hand then swiftly clenched his grip over her face. He begged to sink his script so far down into the depths of her mind that her consciousness would be lost forever within the abyss, but with the Coordinator General’s presence, he knew not to overstep his boundaries.

“You’ll live,” Sir Didact taunted Akari, “consider it a courtesy of the Coordinator General.”

He released his hand from her face, all the while being mindful not to cause her damage.

“You seem troubled, Sir Didact,” the Coordinator General noted, “Did you not achieve what you wanted?”

Sir Didact slowly turned to face the general, his hand still held out in front of him as if tainted. “What I want is never as simple as collecting trophies, general,” Sir Didact replied, irritation lacing his tone, “I’ll know what it is that I want once it’s firmly in my hands.”

The Coordinator General’s gaze met with Sir Didact through the corners of his eyes, contemplation painting over his face. “Sir Didact, did you know that exceptionally high-level marker scripts used in medical amputation don’t fade for over a month’s time unless specifically released or removed?”

“What?”

Cut!

Sir Didact’s right hand separated halfway through the palm, sending his fingers tumbling to the ground. Facing the bloody scene before him, he then quickly knocked away his blade from Akari’s hand as she thrusted it towards his neck, having unknowingly swiped it from his side.

After breaking free, she dropped to the floor and quickly forced herself past the pain to deliver a desperate kick, putting distance between her and Sir Didact.

Zip!

Clench!

Using his uninjured left hand, Sir Didact snatched an incoming projectile out of the air. “Why didn’t you just dodge it?” The Coordinator General scolded, but before Sir Didact could react, another projectile came whizzing his way, making direct contact with his left eye.

“Those were thrown seconds apart, the first one deliberately thrown slower so it would reach later. Had you dodged the first one, you would have avoided the path of the second.”

Despite the unfolding situation, the Coordinator General’s unruffled calm and lack of urgency spoke volumes. Seeing the general as an obstacle, Sir Didact extended his hand to activate his shift script, only to find, much to his surprise, it that it was ineffective…

“Having trouble?” The Coordinator General poked.

The truth was now laid bare before Sir Didact. The Coordinator General sought his life and was fully prepared to ensure the outcome. With no other choice, Sir Didact would have to fight, lest he become nothing more than a corpse.