Chapter 37: Harder Than Rock

It was now the beginning of Vault’s turn. The situation had escalated now that the whole group had become targets. They had all used up their turns trying to reason, and plead with someone they were trying to find the good in.

He still wasn't a bad person, but at this point it seemed like he might be too far gone to save. All of them would be suffering damage every turn, main focus or bystander swept up in his wrath. This wasn't just a fight between Harmony and Gray Dungeon anymore. This was not even a fight between Felicia Forge and Gary Gray.

All of their lives were in danger, they needed to act, or they would all perish. Vault clenched his sword so tightly that he could feel his hand starting to hurt. He was frustrated by the situation, and knew what he had to do, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not without feeling like the bad guy.

In the mental world, Felicia was on her knees on her little island, with a defeated look on her face. She was beyond lost and felt helpless. She didn't know what to do anymore, she just felt like she wanted to just disappear.

What Gary said was right, if only she hadn’t existed then he wouldn't be here in this world. She suddenly felt a tug on her shoulder. She looked back and saw Eunice still standing on her island. Ripples in the water from her piece of land had stretched out to Felicia's area. Something about their mental connection made her feel like she had put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She took notice of the look of sympathy that she was giving her. She shook her head and took control of Harmony. Out in the real world, she saw Vault still hesitating.

She spoke with a soft yet determined tone. “Hey, you need to attack him right now. If we don't start fighting back then we will all perish. You have all tried your best to reason with him…I understand you don't want to give up, and no one would blame you for that…I believe you are all good people for this. I cannot allow my representative to fall, so in turn, I cannot allow the rest of you to lose your lives.”

She placed a hand over her chest and gave all of them a look of sympathy. “If you feel as though you will hate yourselves for fighting back against him, don't…Give that hatred to me…I'm used to being at the center of a person’s negative emotions. I will gladly accept all the consequences…Felicia has always used strange methods in order to achieve interesting results. I guess I shall take after her in that aspect…Get moving now…Your turn is almost over.”

Vault let out a sigh. None of what she said sounded good, but at the end of the day she was right. If they somehow got through this and they all looked back at the past, they probably would blame her. Nothing was right about that.

He charged ahead and attacked the golem in the back of its leg. Some of its armor meter had been depleted, but he noticed that the tendrils from Gray Dungeon’s fingertips were keeping it balanced.

It seemed like it would be impossible to trip up the monster, and cause it to receive fall damage. The usual strategy of using the golem's weight against it was not going to work here. The turn began for the wolf and the bat, one after the other. They both stole a glance at Harmony before turning back to their enemy. She nodded at them, and gestured for them to proceed.

They both charged in one by one, using their turns to deal damage to the golem. Harmony's turn was next in the line up and she shut her eyes. Felicia called out to Eunice in their mental world. “Please don't…! I've already hurt him enough! I don't want to hurt him anymore!”

Harmony opened her eyes, shifted her gaze up at Gray Dungeon, and gave him a look of full of sympathy. “I truly feel sorry for each, and every one of you having to endure such hardship. You have all tried your best to be kind to one another, and even to the enemy before you. You also need to consider kindness towards yourselves. You should not be forced to continue to endure hardships…Destroying yourselves in order to save someone.”

Harmony shook her head. “That is not a noble sacrifice. It is time to let go…As I said before, if we survive, and make it to tomorrow. I will gladly accept the blame.”

She got her chakrams ready, and launched them. She had aimed for the strings holding the puppet up and managed to slice two into pieces. The puppet received a lot of armor damage as a result from dropping to the floor, and smacking against it.

Gray Dungeon commenced his turn, by holding the puppet higher up in the air. “You continue to fight against me…Why do you keep making my life more difficult?!”

He used the tendrils from the puppet to drag it across the floor like a wrecking ball, and smashed it into everyone around him. They had all been rocketed across the room, and their bodies skidded along the floor. They all came to a halt after being pushed back several feet. It was an interesting way to use his summon for a wide ranged attack.

It was now Vault’s turn in the line up. He used his blade to slice through the remaining strings on the puppet. He managed to cut through two of them in one go, and it crashed down into the floor.

It completely destroyed the armor on its body with a loud crack. Something strange happened when the armor broke. Unlike most golems that usually had an iron ore core at the center of its body for a weak spot, this one did not.

The rock layer that made up its body was shattered into pieces and exposed more glimmering minerals underneath than expected. Its body was made entirely out of iron ore. It had a much more sleek, and toned physique. It sounded like metal scrapping against metal as it returned to its feet. The metal warrior stood tall waiting for its turn to begin.

They were all shocked to see the glimmering creature that laid within.