Chapter 17:

Strum and Drang

T.A./H.A. Paranoia Hero


The pond gurgled softly as both girls stood before each other. Dinorah searched within Louger’s eyes, but the person she once saw, the hero she once knew, was no longer there. This was an entirely new monster. Louger looked like a starved mutt, never taking her eyes off of Dinorah; her grace and composure were replaced with recklessness and fury.

“THALASSIO…!” She held her hand out and summoned her blade once more. Her mind seemed as if it were completely lost, but she charged forward with that same speed Dinorah used to always admire. In just a few steps, Louger was already close enough to stab Dinorah. She thrust Thalassio forward, to which Dinorah promptly dodged. She grabbed Louger’s hand and threw her across the pond, making her yelp as she landed on her freshly bruised side, but the warrior was undeterred. Louger leapt over the pond to meet the Elbrus girl with her palm stretched out. A swirl of water was conjured in her hand, growing by the second. Once it grew to a considerable size, she shot it from her palm into the air right behind Dinorah’s back. Louger then threw Thalassio across the field and into the bubble. 

“TENSION…” She commanded while clutching her hand into a fist. The water stopped its flow as it carried the sword in its center. Dinorah tried to turn around to see what Louger was plotting behind her, but before she could, the Ruchian hero took her fist and planted it right in the center of Dinorah’s face.

“Keep your eyes on me, Elbrus girl!!!” Louger lectured. She let a second fist fly to Dinorah’s cheek, and two more hits straight into her liver. She completed the chain of attacks with a spinning side kick. The sole of her boot dug into Dinorah’s chest, sending her flying back. Louger grinned and held out her fist towards the bubble she summoned earlier. Just when the distance was right, she shouted.

“BREAK!!!” With the release of her fist, the water within the bubble began to flow again. Thalassio fell through the bubble, breaking the surface tension and spinning straight down towards Dinorah’s flying body like a guillotine. Dinorah came to her senses just as she saw Thalassio flying towards her neck. She twisted her body around to her furred back. When she flexed her body, the hairs hardened like needles. Thalassio spun wildly as it collided with Dinorah’s fur. She fought against the blade with all her strength, but Thalassio had the advantage. The sword knocked her down to the ground, ricocheting into the air. Louger watched as her blade soared. She quickly bounded towards it, jumping high into the sky to catch it. With Thalassio back in her hand, she found her prey struggling to pick herself up from the ground. She had the upper hand. She repositioned her body mid-air, straightening out her arm and aiming Thalassio right at the back of Dinorah’s skull. Her free-fall turned into a dive of predation.

“Sinful wretch…!!! Become undone by my blade!!!” Louger hollered. She dropped from the sky and let her blade’s tip puncture the back of Dinorah’s head, just for her body to shatter into a pile of glass once again.

“Khrhh! Another decoy?!?” Louger turned to find Dinorah standing several feet away from her; she didn’t appear fazed by any of her previous attacks at all. Louger plucked her blade from the ground and lunged at her.

“REFLECTION,” Dinorah spoke calmly. Louger watched as the Elbrus girl’s body began to shift. She stopped in confusion as her form changed into Louger’s own visage; a complete mirror. The right eye of her reflection shimmered like a gemstone. The hero stood with her teeth bared.

“Tch…How original. If you’re going to copy me, you should at least make sure you can accurately execute it!!!” Louger swung Thalassio at her copy, only to find that the copy mimicked her movement perfectly. She grunted and unleashed a flurry of attacks, all perfectly copied by her reflection.

“This proves nothing; you realize that, don’t you? My battle experience is true, with years of blood being spilled, be it my own or those who dared to challenge me. How much blood have you spilled, Dinorah? What records of war do you carry within your heart?” Dinorah did not answer. She only continued to mimic Louger’s every move, neither of them landing a hit on the other. Fist met fist, blade met blade, every strike was masterfully countered. “Even now, you take from me. My skillset, my technique. Could you ever stand on your own, you selfish girl?!? All you’ve done is steal. Family, power, whatever delights you…I will have no more of it!!!” The clashing continued as Louger poured her rage out onto the field. The woods felt as if they were losing their vibrant color with each strike. “I understand it, now…Whatever I see is what you see…then you respond accordingly. In that case…!” Louger closed her eyes and crouched, lunging at the copy’s gut. As she leapt forward, she felt nothing. No clash of watery steel from Thalassio, just the air surrounding her. The copy had moved out of the way, with its own eyes closed. Louger cackled. “Aha…” With her hypothesis being proved correct, Louger continued to keep her eyes shut, swinging aimlessly at the copy. She would stop in between her attack to listen for Dinorah’s steps, and follow the sound with another swipe.

“Steady, now!” Louger joked, rushing at the copy with no proper direction. One of her stabs landed directly in the copy’s chest, causing it to shatter, revealing Dinorah’s true form. At the sound of the glass shattering, Louger opened her eyes with a starving glare. “Hello, again.” She cooed, going for another stab at the real Dinorah’s chest, but she leapt into the air right before she could sink Thalassio into her skin.

“SHATTERED VOLLEY.” At once, she summoned another swarm of glass and cast it down like hail. Louger side-stepped through the shower of glass as fast as she could, but the assault was too quick. A shard dug its way into her right side; she yelped in pain and fell to one knee. Another shard was buried into her skin, and another. Soon, her body was covered in rigid fragments of glass. She stabbed Thalassio into the ground for leverage, bleeding profusely through her clothes. Dinorah landed on the ground, walking slowly towards Louger, who was gasping for air.

“Louger. You are severely wounded.” Dinorah spoke softly; Louger did not answer, nor did she pick her head up to meet the Elbrus girl’s gaze. “No matter how much we wash it away, one sin will take the place of another. We can not be perfect, Louger.” There was still no response. Dinorah slowly reached out her hand to the wounded hero. “Despite your actions, you should know...I still have respect for you-” Louger swatted her hand away.

“What is this…? Pity? No…perhaps gloating…?” She muttered with shaky breath.

“Louger-” As she tried to reach out to her again, Thalassio began to glow, and a mass of water began to flow from the blade. The ground shook violently. Dinorah looked around as several trees began to fall over. She looked back at Louger, who kept kneeling into the earth as she flooded the ground beneath her.

“You certainly have made a name for yourself, Dinorah Kuria…In any other circumstance, I’d even say I’m proud. However, I made a promise; I will wash away this sin. In its place will be a grave that will touch the world’s core, serving as a warning to all who dare to tread to avoid the pit of transgression.” The flow of water from Thalassio only grew stronger, causing the ground beneath both of their feet to rumble even further.

“No! You can’t! Think about Ulrich!” Louger grabbed Dinorah’s hand tightly; she tried to yank it away, but her grip was too strong. She looked at Dinorah with an absolutely deranged expression. 

“You’ve taken so much from me already, and now you want to leave? Stay for the final shower. The grand cleansing of sin. You owe me that much at the very least.” She said in a cold voice. Dinorah tried even harder to pull away from her, but it was a futile effort. After one last tug, she gritted her teeth, held out her free hand, and summoned a glass shard. She shot it at Louger’s wrist, severing it from her arm.

“AGGGGGGGH!” Louger yelped. Dinorah looked to see her severed hand still clasping on. She threw it to the side and began to run out of the woods in a full sprint. The ground started to crumble as the water from Thalassio accumulated under the earth.

“The final storm...” As she mumbled, the land fell beneath her into a massive sinkhole. Her body lifelessly dropped to the depths below, yet she kept Thalassio firmly gripped in her hand. Her eyes were closed shut as she fell under the earth. As she plummeted further down, she felt something grab her hand as she held her blade. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to see a small glowing figure with short orange hair.

“Dear brother…is that you…?" The figure smiled. A tear ran down her cheek.

"Ulrich...Please forgive your sister…forgive La-La...of her greatest sin...” She whispered her final words before her body disappeared into the shadows of the underground. The sinkhole expanded, taking the entirety of the woods with it. The ground slipped from under Dinorah faster and faster by the second. Just when there was no more terrain to walk upon, she transformed her body into glass and flew through the air, narrowly escaping what was once the Ulrich Woods. Her shattered body flew within the wind, glittering against the setting sun. She thought back to the vision of her presumed friend smashing the Elbrus core and leaving her to the fate of Louger and the Ruchians. Suddenly, her voice was coated in anger.

“Agon…” She muttered as she soared through the afternoon sky.

Mghty
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