In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two of us closed in an instant. No human could move this fast. Did he have an artifact like Galahad? His face was close, a sharp grin declaring his victory in a single move.
My heartbeat stopped; the air in my lungs ceased to flow in or out. The air around me felt stale; even the gears in the distance stopped turning. I couldn't move, but neither could Ritair. A black shadow surged out from below me.
"Believe in me, as I do in you."
Rinara's voice echoed... no, that wasn't an echo. I heard it next to me. I felt it on me. This was no voice in my head.
A shadowy figure wrapped around my arms, turning into a pair of pale hands. They were cold, yet at the same time, they felt warm. They moved my arms, positioning my Gearsaw to my right.
Air flowed back into my lungs; the moment it did, I felt something slam into my Gearsaw, but there was nothing there.
Ritair's grin vanished as he backed off. He retreated backward, taking a defensive stance as he studied me with his eyes.
"When your eyes deceive you, listen to the truth." The pale arms around my arms vanished into a puff of black smoke as Rinara's voice filled me with the courage to fight against Ritair.
His artifact differed from Galahad's, but they functioned on the same cowardly principle: appearing next to their opponents, leaving very little room to retaliate.
"What a pain…" Ritair muttered. "Why does he have that?" Ritair tugged at his shirt collar, the pendant around his neck glowing brighter than before. He winced, gripping his rapier even tighter.
Whatever that shadow is, it's appeared three times, each near a seat, twice saving me from a fatal blow. Two times, it was seen by a seat. Was I not the only one who saw it? What is it?
No, now was not the time to focus on that. Ritair was preparing to strike; I needed to be ready.
Ritair changed his stance, pointing his rapier towards me. He narrowed his eyes, pushing off the ground. This time he moved slower, his steps light, carefully avoiding any possible sounds.
But when he did make a sound, it did not seem to come from him. It came from behind. I closed my eye, blocking one of my senses. If I focused more on the sound, I could worry less about physically reacting to seeing him.
As I thought, a set of footsteps came from behind, quickly closing in. I turned around, using my weapon to block. I felt a blow slam into my Gearsaw. With my eye now open, I saw that there was nothing in front of me, yet I could feel the pressure of a clash.
"…" Ritair grunted as the pressure against me disappeared. Then I heard his blade bounce off the side of a building as he leaped to the right. "Huh?" His footsteps stumbled forward; I swung my blade down, a line of crimson droplets glistening in the light as they spattered onto the ground. His footsteps retreated.
In front of me was Ritair, or what I now assumed was a visage of him. He glared at me, shrugging his shoulders with a smug expression on his face. A faint sound of footsteps was circling me.
"You have some dirty tricks, you know that?" he said, his voice not matching the direction of his appearance.
My eye locked with his visage, a stark grin lining his lips. His gaze softened, reflecting his belief that he had nothing to worry about. The steps from behind hastened until they were in a more open area of the alley, near where Henry and Lilas fought.
"Well, isn't the pot calling the kettle black?" I said, the grin on his face vanishing.
"The nerve of you," he growled.
"You fight like a coward and tried to kill off a little girl; nothing about you is honorable."
"I know who you are now." Ritair narrowed his gaze. Slow steps approached from behind me. "You were with that girl and the brute of a priest at the City Hall. Tell me, where is the spawn of the goddess?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"If memory serves correctly, you and your posse of trash were losing against that amalgamation of a void spawn in the maintenance shaft. So I took delicate measures to kill the other void spawn that was forcing your desires to leak out."
So he really was the man who beat us to the punch. But why? He worships the void spawn, so why is he killing them?
"That look, you wanna know why?" he smiled. "Well, that one was giving my lovely Kelly a hard time, so I needed to deal with it. Galahad didn't enjoy me crushing one of Solara's void spawns." Through his gaze alone, I could tell that he wanted to say more, but couldn't.
Solara, that was a name I had heard in passing. The third seat; the cult's first bishop. Henry mentioned her before Ritair showed up. Seems like the second and third seats don't get along. Then again, the second and the seventh are actively butting heads. Ritair could be the black sheep in their group.
Or, it could be something much deeper than that.
I gripped my blade; the look in Ritair's eyes sharpened as the steps from behind me stopped. He was close, if I had to guess, maybe two arm's lengths away. The fighting between Lilas and Henry stopped. I could only hear the faint sounds of Lilas squeezing Sara. It was a welcome sound, but I can't let my guard down yet, knowing that Lilas won her fight.
My opponent was tricky, but he wasn't impossible.
"Say," the visage of Ritair raised his blade high. "You've got an annoying look in your eye, as if you've won this fight," he said. "Don't you think you are overestimating yourself?" He cocked his head with a grin.
"Sorry," I lowered my stance. The visage of Ritair followed. "I can't lie to myself and say that this would be a hard fight." A glare followed my words.
"Just die, scum." He launched himself forward.
I closed my eyes, twisting my body around. I felt an impact on my sword, then on my armor. Rapid thrusts pelted me hard. I matched the sounds of his breaths, positioning myself so that he couldn't inflict any damage to my body.
His irritation grew as did the number of thrusts. He was getting faster and faster. His attacks lost their rhythm as he moved around me. Ritair was starting to miss, his blade cutting through the air like faint whistles. His breath grew heavier and his footsteps louder.
"How are you doing that!" he roared as a heavier blow slammed into my chest. Something sharp pierced my cheek. I could feel the warmth of my blood trickling down my face. "Heh!" Another blow slammed into me.
This time I brought my blade up and kicked out.
"GUH!?"
I followed up with another kick, and another.
"S-SHIT!" Ritair cried out.
I opened my eyes to see that I was kicking nothing but air, but droplets of blood were falling onto the ground before me. I slammed my foot down, resting on something hard. I brought up my blade, revving the gears.
To think it would be this easy to kill the seat of a cult.
The gears roared to life as I pressed my foot down harder. A grin lined my lips. A purple light shimmered; the invisible man finally revealed himself instead of using his visage. His right hand was trapped under my foot. His eyes glared at me as if I were the one in the wrong here.
But he was.
The gears grew louder.
He decided to use those artifacts to control those girls.
So finish him.
I slammed down my Gearsaw as the twisted voice in my mind echoed. Ritair hastily brought up his rapier to block my attack. The gears tore through the metal, sending half the blade flying outwards toward the entrance of the alley.
*BANG*
A shot rang out just before my weapon hit flesh. White steam blanketed the area; the moment it did, something shoved me.
"I got you!" A new voice called out as footsteps moved away from me.
Once the steam dissipated, I looked around the alley. It was only me, Lilas, and Sara. Nobody else was left. A bitter feeling swelled inside of me, but this was still a win for us. The second seat, Ritair, had decent combat skills; he used his artifact to make up for his inexperience. But he adapts quickly; I doubt the same method would work on him twice.
"Damn…" I looked down at my Gearsaw; a single hole was torn through my steam cell. "That's a pretty good shot…" If they were aiming for the weapon, that was. If their aim was me…then I got pretty lucky.
"Sorry." That was all that Lilas said as I approached her. While she held Sara close in her arms, she was looking up towards a dangling rope that swung from the top of the roof.
Without her telling me, I could tell the entire story. Henry had outside help; after all, who else would have taken Sara hostage?
But Sara seemed fine. She had no injuries. The only blood on her was that of Henry when he shielded her from the bullet. She looked at me as Lilas hugged her tightly. A gentle look stayed in her eyes, even though she was in a scary situation; she showed zero signs of it.
I guess if you were in her situation, then there was nothing else to fear after everything she had gone through in the past week.
I walked up to both of the girls. I rubbed Sara's head; a smile formed on her face as she closed her eyes. With my other hand, I tried to do the same to Lilas as she fought hard, but she batted my hand away.
Her single eye held a sharp gaze, a warning of sorts. I pulled back and looked up at the rope.
"You two stay down here," I said as I grabbed the rope.
"Okay…"
"…"
At the anchor point of the rope was a familiar glint of light. Sara's weapon was neatly placed with a small metal canister next to it. It was the same shape as the flashbangs I loaded Sara's weapon with. I picked it up; a small message was engraved on it.
"Allow the brave one to use on the next full moon."
Following the events in the alley, we made our way back to the chapel in the dead of the night. While Kili sat next to me and tended to my wounds, I told her about the canister, leading her to echo my words in a thoughtful tone.
It was just Sara and me who came to the residential clinic room of the chapel. I felt a tad bit guilty for being in this room where I didn't belong, but it was Kili's idea to have me be tended next to Sara.
"All I can say is the cult is actively fighting itself." She continued, "But the next full moon…That Ritair fellow, he replaced the man that Father Muller killed, yes?"
Kili finished up with me, and I put my clothes back on. She made her way towards Sara, who was sleeping on a medical bed. She examined her body to ensure there were no lingering wounds that needed attention.
"Yes," I said, answering her question.
"How did he look?" she asked.
I didn't understand her question; why did his appearance matter? Kili stopped working with Sara to look at me. She sighed.
"Did he look tired? Wounded? Distracted?"
"Yes…to all," I said.
"I see." Kili turned back to Sara. "Then it makes sense the next full moon would be their ritual time."
"Ritual?"
"Yes…to formally recognize the new seat. That Ritair fellow must have fulfilled his duty and is now ready for the ritual. Whoever gave you guys that canister wants it used during the ritual, and gave it to our little apprentice here." Kili gently stroked Sara's hair, a strange look in her eyes. With a deep breath, Kili stood up, made her way to a cabinet, and pulled out a few medical supplies. She walked over and handed them to me.
"What is this for?" I asked.
"Use Sister Claire's trust to your advantage. Check on Mother Lilas and make sure she isn't hurt. As you know, Lilas hates me and won't let me come close enough to her to provide her with care." As she spoke, she pointed to her wrists. "Given that you know the truth, she has no choice but to confide in you."
A strange smile formed on her lips, but her voice held genuine concern. Though I had my doubts about being used this way, it made sense.
"Alright."
"Thank you, Golden Steam."