Chapter 35:

Winds Of Tragedy

Peters' Crosses


As the next day arrives, I head to the hilltop that I normally train on. However, as I expected, there are still no signs of my powers activating again. What gives, stupid dragon? I thought we’re supposed to be partners, and now you’re saying that you won’t let me use this power anymore? And whenever I try to talk, you just wouldn’t answer me. Was that encounter that much for you to handle?

As if hidden within the wind itself, a sudden, but familiar, voice rustles behind my neck, sending me chills down my spine:

“The gears of fate start to move now…”

“Who’s there?” I let out a shout as I turn around as fast as humanly possible. However, behind me is in fact nothing, as if the voice I heard earlier was that of a phantom. Instinctively, I hold onto my cross and attempts to arm, but immediately after, I realize that it shouldn’t be possible for me right now.

That is if it’s the case normally.

For some reason, my instinctive action works, and I find myself once again clad in a suit of armor. Not the white one used in my training, however, but the jet-black armor with the flaming wings that I first experienced. And along with it comes another voice which I did not expect to be hearing at all:

“Where is he?”

“Took you long enough to appear.” I try to let out a smile, but the atmosphere around me is too suffocating to even fake one. “Is the enemy nearby?”

“I… Wait, this can’t be.” It only takes a second for the dragon in the cross to realize our current situation. “He’s… gone. There’s no one here.”

“… Now what?” Realizing that the danger is gone, I dispel my armor again and ask.

“… Let’s just go back.” With a sigh, the dragon answers.

“And don’t you dare ignore me again, you hear?” Finally able to make a grin on my face again, I say as I go down the hill and return to the house.

As I open the door, however, a sense of dread fills my entire body. That’s odd. I turn my attention towards the sky, trying to figure out the position of the sun. I was right after all. It’s well past noon now, at least. Normally, Katsu would be cooking in the kitchen right now. But the house is quiet… too quiet. Are the two of them going to the harbor to pick up Ushiwaka? No, not a chance. When I went with him here, we had to rent our own ride. If that’s the case, however, then what gives?

Even the creaking sound of the door closing creeps me out. The back door leads to the kitchen first and foremost, but, as I expected, no one is here at the moment. Seeing the vegetables and meat lying about on the cutting table, however, means that Katsu is, or rather, was home. But he’s not the type to just leave ingredients in the middle of cooking to go somewhere else.

A large sound comes from the living room, as if someone has just broken something, a vase maybe. This is getting weird. From what I’ve seen, neither Katsu nor Petoro is considered clumsy. And besides, the two know this place like the back of their hands, there’s no way that it’s them that broke something. But if we cross those two out of the picture, then…

Someone else is here in the house.

As I approach the living room, a familiar metallic scent invades my nose. I can recognize this smell anywhere. Blood. And fresh, as well. The sense of dread returns faster and stronger than ever, and in an instant of fight-or-flight reaction, my armor covers my body once more. Approaching the living room with a flaming spear ready to launch at any time, never in my life would I expect to see a scene as shocking as this.

On the floor is a headless corpse of a rather large man, blood splattering everywhere on the floor and the furniture. Meanwhile, curling up in fear is Katsu, who’s covering his ears and closing his eyes, repeatedly shaking his head as if trying to wake up from a horrible nightmare. Judging on the corpse’s figure and clothes, as well as Katsu’s reaction, I have a pretty good guess on who it is. However, what surprises me the most is the only other person standing in the room.

One of his hands is filled with blood, while the other is holding onto a disembodied head – that of the corpse on the floor, Ushiwaka. The young boy wears a face of pure bliss and ecstasy as he licks the remaining blood on his hand. Then, the boy lets out a demonic grin, revealing his usual white teeth now stained red, but most importantly, an emerald cross hanging on his neck, and utters in a voice of a total stranger, even if his face suggests otherwise:

“Ah, it feels good to be back.”

“… Petoro?” I raise my voice in caution and doubt. The child in front of me is, in fact, Musashibou Petoro, but the way he’s acting at the moment seems to show nothing but that emotional kid. And my doubts are soon proven to be true, as the boy takes a glance at me and licks his lips while letting out a sinister grin:

“Asmodai’s vessel, isn’t it? I can tell from that heat coming from you… A fine woman you got there, dragon of flame.”

“Allow me to formally introduce myself.” “Petoro” continues without letting me so much a chance to react to his previous actions. “My name is Byleth, the Demon that governs the wind. As you may be aware, my consciousness is present within my cross, and I’m currently borrowing the body of this pitiful child. Although… I believe he would still be happy wielding this kind of power in his hands.”

“Why did you kill Ushiwaka?” I ask, readying my spears to attack at any given moment.

“You mean this man, don’t you?” Byleth raises the head forward, and, in an unexpected move, tosses it across the room towards me. Instinctively, I dodge away, and the severed head lands on Katsu instead. Finally shaken by the turns of events, the boy finally opens his eyes, and as the lifeless open eyes of his dead father stare directly at him, Katsu lets out a terrified scream and passes out in an instant.

The Demon standing opposite to me, on the other hand, is laughing cynically at the scene:

“Kehehe… A nice sound he makes, isn’t it? Don’t you find that lovely?”

“You sicken me, Demon.” Gripping my spear tightly, I grunt. “Are human lives just toys for you to play with?”

“As a matter of fact, you hit the nail right in the head!” Raising his arms forward in a triumphant manner, as if embracing the idea of chaos itself onto him, Byleth lets out a satisfying scream. “Us Demons have lost our way. We’re not supposed to be all buddy-buddy with you guys. We exist to find joy in ourselves, to revel in the sweet sound of despair. We thrive in your suffering, but somehow, I’m the ‘bad guy’ whenever I bring it up among us. Well, now that there’s no one standing in my way anymore, I’ll make sure to show you humans what hell really is!”

I’ve had enough of this creep. There’s nothing salvageable about him anymore. But the problem is, he’s not in his own body, and I can’t risk killing Petoro along with him. Think, Petra. There must be a way to only kill that abomination… Wait, what if I destroy the cross right now? His consciousness is still in there, right? It’s hard, but if I stay focused and control my spear to precisely hit it…

However, I’m back within the burning city in my dreams, and in front of me is once again a portal leading to the outside world.

“Hey, what gives, stupid dragon?” I shout in anger, raising my fist towards the sky. Replying to me is Asmodai’s voice echoing in the air:

“Calm down. I only want to talk to him for a bit. I still agree that he’s a dangerous force right now, and if worst comes to worst, we will have to kill him.”

On the outside, however, Asmodai is still calmly striking a conversation using my body:

“Long time no see, Byleth.”

“So, you finally show yourself.” The Demon’s creepy grin stretches out to the edges of his face, long passing the boundaries of a normal human being. “What brings you here, old friend? Do you want to catch up on the good old times, or are you here to disappear forever into the void?”

“I don’t plan to do any of the two.”. Asmodai answers. “But I do have some questions for you, Byleth. The first one being… the war you caused some thousands of years ago, here in this very land.”

“You mean the Sengoku era?” Byleth raises his eyebrows in doubt. “It’s an old story, Asmodai. Why bring it up now?”

“Because it’s the bloodiest and most brutal Trial anyone of us has ever produced. Tell me, Byleth, why did you do it? Why did you instigate a war that destroyed all good candidates for our potential partners?”

“Because the whole system is wrong, that’s why.” Gone is his usual annoying grin, the Demon, for the first time since I’ve seen him, answers with a dead-serious expression on his face. “Tell me, Asmodai, aren’t you… no, aren’t anyone of you concerned about what would happen to us once we’ve accomplished our fates?”

“We all knew about it, Byleth. And we all chose to accept it.” Asmodai answers, still in a calm demeanor. “You were the only one that had a change of heart.”

“I had a change of heart, that is true. But this change is what you all needed!” Byleth then shows a fit of anger unknown to any of us before, as he screams out loud and swings his arms to the side, knocking away another vase nearby onto the floor, making ceramic pieces fly away in all directions in the progress. “Think for yourselves for once, Asmodai! Are you going to just accept that you’re bound to disappear into nothing one day? Why would you continue to walk on this path, when it’s bound to kill all of us?”

“Heh.” Asmodai, to my surprise, lets out a smirk. “You’re starting to sound like your first partner.”

“Ironic, isn’t it? He was the one to abandon me first, but only afterwards did I realize he’s actually in the right all along.” Byleth’s mouth forms a bitter smile as he shakes his head in regret. “And now I’m done hesitating. I will resist this accursed fate of ours, and I will be the one to have the last laugh!”

As the final words leave his mouth, from Byleth’s back sprouts an enormous pair of wings made out of pure, condensed air pressure, like a miniature storm raging inside the house, sucking up every sort of broken furniture it could get its hands on. The storm wings then grow to an unimaginable scale, breaking the entire house itself, and freeing the Demon in the process. Now high up in the sky, Byleth raises his hands upward and shouts:

“You have two choices, Asmodai! Leave me alone, or get crushed under my wind!”

“Heh.” The fire dragon lets out another smirk, licking up the wound bleeding in the corner of his mouth. “All these years, and still that same bratty personality. I wanted to talk things out peacefully, but if you’re going as far as to threaten me, Byleth, then I’ll have to remind you why we’re still considered equals in strength.”

The moment Asmodai finishes his sentences is also the moment when the two tornadoes drill down upon us, carrying all of its deadly projectiles consisting of wooden planks and rocks along in an attempt to tear our bodies to shreds. Asmodai, however, isn’t fazed in the slightest, and, raising his flag spear forward, his voice echoes within this imaginary world I’m in:

“Watch closely. This is the true potential you can achieve.”

Vforest
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Ei Ruan
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