“Why not let Elaine go free? You’ve already killed Evan, and on top of that, you have me now Nuadha. You don’t need her for your plans. There’s no reason she needs to die here as well,” reasoned Fenix, his voice echoing around the chamber. The other Order members present began to laugh softly.
Nuadha smiled slightly and said, “Ah, but if I let her go now, she could gather reinforcements, and then what would we do? You see the remains of my entire sect here before you now. It would not be hard for your Paladin friends to wipe us out if they all gathered here.
“Besides,” he continued, “I shall enjoy making you watch as another one of your pupils dies by my hand. Yes, I think I shall quite enjoy killing her slowly.” Fenix glared at Nuadha with suppressed rage as his Ark Cradle chimed.
“What makes you think I would even let you touch her Nuadha? I know you haven’t forgotten the last time we fought. Of course, how could you? After all, I took your arm back then,” said Fenix. Elaine looked on and squinted in the dull light.
She could indeed see that he was missing his right arm. In its place was a mechanical arm constructed of steel and Zight. The reports on Nuadha had mentioned this addition to his body, but Elaine had never thought to see it in person. The silver arm, Argetlam, was still, and its hand rested on Claimh Solace, the sword Nuadha had stolen from a high-ranking member of the Radiant Corps after killing him.
Nuadha sighed and rested his head on the palm of his real hand, “You fail to realize that I no longer need you. You’re outnumbered Fenix. The odds are against you. Here tonight, you will die, and then I will head to Seven City and end your lovely wife as well. After that, no one will be able to stop me.”
Nuadha leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He glared at Fenix with a wild look in his eyes and said, “As for your newborn son, I will raise him as my own and use him to bring about the new age I have dreamed about for decades.” He dropped his overall facade and replaced it with a greedy scowl.
Elaine backed away slightly as she realized that Nuadha was right. They would die here and there was nothing they could do about it. Nuadha stood from his throne slowly and pointed towards them.
“Your time is up Fenix. Face it, you’ve finally lost,” Nuadha turned away and adjusted his black robes. “Kill them now, and make sure that nothing is left,” he finished. The Order members around them began to draw their weapons and move closer.
“Elaine forgive me. I never imagined it would go like this,” said Fenix as he flipped the “X” on his Ark Cradle and was enveloped in bright light. His glittering attack armor appeared and Fenix prepared himself for the coming battle.
“Forgive you?” asked Elaine, “For what? We can still win this!” she finished, her back to his as they began to cut down the many foes that charged at them. The two guards who had come from behind them were the first to fall, followed by seven more in the blink of an eye.
Fenix and Elaine made a terrific team, and they covered each other’s weaknesses perfectly. Fenix was a purely close-range fighter. That left him unable to easily handle opponents who fought from a distance. Elaine on the other hand was both a long-range and close-range fighter, however, her melee skills weren’t as good as Fenix’s.
“You know, I always loved that about you, my friend. You never know when to give up, do you?” Fenix said as the battle continued. All hell broke loose as a flurry of sharp weaponry and glowing magick exploded around them. Four Order members fell around Elaine as she swung her Collapscythe in an arc in front of her. Fenix mirrored her movements from behind and even cast a few spells into the crowd rattling the underground chamber with a massive explosion.
His power was on a whole other level, but that was to be expected of a peak Rank-Four Conductor. Fenix showed no mercy as he wiped out dozens of opponents in only a few exchanges. The two of them cut their way through several of the acolytes at a time. They dodged their spells and weapons with perfect precision and didn’t even sustain any injuries in the process.
Again Elaine’s Collapscythe met with flesh as she swung it at the several enemies before her. She then flipped it into bow mode and fired off several shots into the chaotic crowd. Given the enclosed space, the vast number of opponents meant next to nothing. Fenix fired off another spell that scattered around the room and killed twelve acolytes in a flurry of blood and electricity. The acolytes were easy enough to deal with since they were only in the second and third ranks.
The real fight would come when the Captains got involved, and they made sure to stand clear of the two attacking intruders. Their time would come soon enough. Elaine stumbled a bit as she swiped her Collapscythe at three oncoming attackers and one of them managed to cut through her bicep.
It quickly healed as Elaine popped a recovery pill, but despite being the stronger party, there were just too many Order members to deal with. Her strength was fading quickly as she refused to hold back even a little.
“Master, I don’t know how much longer we can hold out against this many opponents!” she yelled.
“Just keep fighting Elaine! We don’t have anyone else to rely on!” replied Fenix as the acolytes, now in the early stages of the fourth rank, approached.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light momentarily took their sight, followed shortly after by an explosion that shrouded the large cluster of remaining Order members in a cloud of smoke and stone. Fenix and Elaine were knocked to the ground but quickly regained their footing.
“You haven’t forgotten about me now, have you?” came a familiar voice the two of them fondly knew. As the smoke cleared and the resulting chaos subsided, Elaine saw Serenade Ceraunus standing ready and fully armed in the rear entryway just behind a cluster of dead Order members.
“Serenade?!? What the hell? What are you doing here!?” asked Fenix. However, he sighed as he turned to look at Elaine with a mix of pride and anger.
“Don’t worry about that right now,” replied Serenade as she leaped forward several meters and fired off a volley of arrows in the blink of an eye. Each acolyte the arrows hit exploded in a ray of cerulean blue light. Nothing remained but a cloud of purple-tinted blood.
“You know, Elaine, when this is all over,” began Fenix as he fought off two of the Captains who had joined the battle.
“I know, I know, you’re really going to let me have it aren’t you?” Elaine finished for him. The two shared a grim smile and the battle continued. Nuadha on the other hand was livid. His calm demeanor was gone, and he stomped his foot on the ground sending a crack through the stone throne and into the floor.
“Kill them! I want them all dead now you miserable fools!” Nuadha bellowed, releasing his aura at full force. In his carelessness, one of the unlucky acolytes near him exploded in a rain of blood as the pressure of Nuadha’s aura swept over him.
