Volume 14, Chapter 2: Beasts of the Moonlight Bare Their Fangs

Layfon had spaced out as he looked at the ceiling....

".........."

Leerin was also looking at the ceiling. She was living in a room prepared for her in the palace. Since it was impossible to move her into the Eutnohl house right away, Alsheyra had prepared this room for her. She had also introduced the maids who were to look after Leerin and who also made Leerin really uncomfortable. However, the maids didn't seem to care and they accepted her naturally. They had been looking after her until she fell asleep.

Leerin could breathe easily, as she was finally alone.

The bed was the same design as the one in Saya's room, with a similar ceiling too. The bounciness of the bed that Leerin had never experienced before made her unable to calm down and sleep.

So one couldn't say she wanted to look at the ceiling.

"........"

And that wasn't the only reason behind her inability to sleep.

She felt an unfamiliar feeling as she touched the thing covering her right eye. She felt its surroundings and that feeling was not something she had had before.

The eyepatch. This strange thing covering her right eye failed to calm her down.

She thought she would get used to it one day but she was also scared of getting familiar with it.

(This must be......)

This signified the past and present Leerin, signifying that she had made a choice to part with her past.

(What.)

She silently scolded her thinking. How long was she to fiddle around with it when she had already made up her mind? Besides, she already told Derek those words. She couldn't turn back. Was her resolve not enough? She had determined to give up the name of Marfes. Was this not enough? Did she need anything else? Or did she have to give up the name Leerin as well? If she were to do that......?

A whirlwind of uneasiness rose in her chest. She curled into a ball, unable to even look at the ceiling. The gentle feel wrapping around herself could take off some of the burden on her but it failed to ease off the pressure in her heart. Derek had left to stop Layfon. Though they had yet to fight, the fight would happen. Once Layfon had decided to act, the fight would happen.

Leerin and Layfon's adopted father was that kind of a person.

(So I shouldn't meet with Layfon anymore.)

Layfon and Derek. The outcome of this fight was obvious. Layfon would win. This was a matter of fact. Layfon became a Heaven's Blade successor at age ten. A Heaven's Blade successor that Derek had not become. Looking from a normal angle, Derek's job to prevent Layfon's footsteps wouldn't have worked. But he was his adopted father. Could Layfon keep moving forward even though his adopted father, who should have already reconciled with him, came to stop him?

And there was one more thing....

Leerin's body curled up more as she thought of it, her hand applying more pressure on the right eye.

"What have I done......"

The feeling of regret assaulted her all of a sudden, though she didn't consciously think of it. She regretted it a lot after thinking of the gap of strength between Layfon and Derek. This feeling came naturally, a natural feeling whose aim was to break down Leerin's resolve.

A thorn.

Looking from the viewpoint of the abstract, this was a thorn. One of the thorns growing on a plant. This thorn entered Derek...... This image floated up in Leerin's mind. One of the thorns on the wheel of thorns etched onto her right eye ball had entered Derek's body.

What did that imply?

And for this to happen, could it be...... She kept thinking of it and knew this wasn't the way to be. As she said already, she couldn't keep thinking of things to confuse herself.

"I must keep my spirits up," she said in a small voice, curled up on the bed. No one replied. This feeling made her lonely but her body could not curl up anymore. She hugged herself tightly. She kept this pose as the feeling of bitterness and pain flowed in her till it blocked her ears. She suddenly noticed some movement above her.

She was shocked as she turned around.

A beautiful girl who suited the darkness in the room stood before her.

It was Saya.

"Can't sleep?" she asked in a faint voice.

"You too....?" Leerin sat up opposite Saya, still shocked.

"It seems a crisis is near. I can't sleep in this situation."

As expected there were no emotions in Saya's reply. The feeling Saya gave off in her words was similar to the beautiful Psychokinesist Leerin met in Zuellni. No. Saya's words were more mechanical.

"Crisis?"

"Yes."

Saya was the prototype of all Electronic Fairies. Rumor had it that all Electronic Fairies were imitations of her. This meant the crisis Saya felt must be filth monsters. She could feel the filth monsters and evade them just like the Electronic Fairies. But Saya had been sleeping in the Inner Court of the palace. The Haikizoku named Grendan took care of things like filth monsters and the movements of other cities while Saya slept. Hence, the crisis she felt shouldn't be as simple as mere filth monsters.

"Has it happened yet?" Leerin finally pushed the doubt through her throat.

"I'm not sure. The condition of this side is not complete and the opponents have no reason to wait for us. Of course, I have no proof that they're ready."

"Then...."

"Though I can feel the crisis looming, I don't yet know the real form of our opponents."

"I see."

"Yes."

Leerin didn't know what to do as she looked at Saya, nodded emotionlessly.

Uneasiness. Though she had asked Alsheyra what to do, she herself didn't know how to put down this sense of uneasiness. Alsheyra had said not to do anything. The cause was that things would happen as long as the condition had been satisfied. Alsheyra would protect Leerin until that time came.

The Queen, Alsheyra, had told Leerin so. No Military Artist in Grendan or in other cities existed with a strength greater than the Queen's. Leerin must be in this world's safest place. So Leerin's uneasiness must be unrelated to this? Once she made up her mind, many changes had occurred around her. Why did those changes happen? They must be things happening in response to the next event. So Leerin felt uneasy. Though she knew she had no other way, she still felt uneasy.

She was uneasy when thinking of whether she had made the right choice.

She was uneasy, wondering whether she could perform what she had to do, wondering whether the progress of things would be smooth.

She was uneasy as she thought of whether her actions were right or wrong.

But she didn't understand what was right. She only understood that something was to happen. This understanding was not enough to remove her unease. The information was too vague.

"But something is to happen, right?"

Saya woke from her slumber in response to the looming crisis. Her awakening implied something was about to happen.

The pupils of the girl of moonlight were looking at the window covered by curtains. Leerin was troubled a bit as she thought of drawing aside the curtains or not.

Perhaps it was about to rain. Contrary to the good weather in the morning, dark clouds were closing in from a distance where they guarded the night sky. The city would have changed its direction under the normal circumstances but this was impossible. Because Grendan had stopped moving.

"Looks like a deluge in coming," Dixerio said in a small voice as he looked at the dark clouds slowly drift close. The humidity in the air was increasing. It seemed it definitely would rain.

A heavy rain would not affect the city's air shield. The air shield would filter the pollutants in the raindrops that fell through it. The city's air and water purification systems were working hard, as incidents of unfiltered rain had occurred.

The rain blocked outside the air shield would turn into fog as the air shield prevented the raindrops from entering the city. The pollutants would merge with the fog and surround the city in a black layer. This scenery made one feel uncomfortable.

But it was another kind of entertainment to gaze at the scenery in these circumstances.

All that happened in Zuellni was to end in Grendan. The reason of everything, the pollutants that encircled Grendan implied something was to happen. Dixerio ate the bento he bought for lunch as he watched the scenery, standing on the city's outskirt.

"You look relaxed."

Dixerio was not surprised even though he was suddenly spoken to.

"Just what are you thinking....?"

He had no need to turn around. A beautiful girl wearing a dark dress stood behind him, looking as if she was to melt into the night.

"What am I thinking? I just want to realize that child's dream."

A stirring in the voice. Dixerio could tell the girl was laughing.

"Deliberately. In this situation?"

"But one wouldn't understand if it's not in this situation? You think so too. Of course, for a Military Artist a problem of a similar level would appear after he overcomes the obstacle of a certain level. Especially for the Military Artist whose strength leaps after obtaining the Haikizoku. He can't escape this problem."

"........"

True. But how many Military Artists could exude Kei that outran the permissible limit of a Dite? This meant the power that was on par with a Heaven's Blade successor......

Nelphilia, the girl of night continued. "But to have lost his weapon while fighting desperately and then obtained it again.... There shouldn't be many who have had this experience? If it was different, he's either a stray dog I picked up or an Electronic Fairy's......"

Nelphilia suddenly stopped. Her gaze fell on Dixerio's back. Though Dixerio didn't like it, he still felt it.

The girl was smiling.

"It might be an interesting contrast."

"Humph."

"But no one knows the outcome of things."

"Any outcome is the same. The end is almost immediate. I've just a bit more left for my job. I don't care who it is. Ignasis, Riggzario, Airen...... I'd destroy anyone who stands in my path."

"So scary."

Dixerio ignored her voice of false feeling, draining the water left in the bottle.

"But I must meet with Saya."

"Ara, why?"

"There are things I want to find out from her."

"Even now you still want to confirm the event of that day?"

"No need."

"Ara?" Nelphilia still found it strange.

"No matter what happened on that day, this reality will not change. The things I've to do will not change. So there's no need to confirm the past anymore...... There's something I have to know so that my fangs are pointed in the right direction."

"Is that something you can't get from me?"

"That won't work."

"Ara, why?"

"Because you...... Never mind. Nothing."

Dixerio spoke half of what was in his mind and shook his head. Though it was better to thoroughly solve the problem about Nina, it would only create redundant commotion. He didn't have room to waste energy on that issue right now. Besides, he had tasted his impotence because of Nelphilia. The time he had spent on Nina was wasted. Thinking of that, he didn't want to waste any more strength.

"Nothing else. All I can do is let loose the hound and tidy up the prey the hound has caught up with."

Nelphilia's mood hadn't changed. Finding that something troublesome had flown to his head, Dixerio lifted his head to watch the moon.

The inside of the air shield was very tranquil but the scenery outside the air shield seemed different. The typhoon was pushing the dark clouds to Grendan's sky. The dark clouds covered half of the city, blocking off half of the moon. The mirror of darkness was clearly reflected on Grendan. The dark clouds were swiftly covering Grendan and the moon as Dixerio observed, till the moon also quickly vanished from his side.

"I wonder whether that thing alone can manage till success?"

"Perhaps."

The clouds covering the entire city still moved with the wind, showing no signs of stopping. The layers of dark clouds slowly weaved together like black moss growing on cotton until they totally swallowed Grendan's sky.

Or, it was like a huge dam swallowing the rapids of a river.

"Never mind. It doesn't matter how it turns out."

Dixerio didn't know this city's fate. He only knew that those guys would move close once Saya woke up. And he could only get close to those guys' headquarter in this time.

"You should still have things to do for that?"

"Yes. But those guys...."

Dixerio's gaze moved from the moon to the city. Artificial light suppressed the darkness blocking off the moon. Groups of light crafted out the city's shape to resist the darkness. But the opponent was still quiet. It was only hiding its presence.

"Will it make a ruckus?"

"For sure."

"Isn't it better to do it quietly?"

"Probably. Either way, it's troublesome if it lures in a few Heaven's Blades or the Queen."

"What a troublesome dog. That side also is relaxed."

"Those things can be brought back as long as it returns to the hole."

"That's true. Really. This is what happens in a normal world. It might fast become something I don't need anymore," Nelphilia sighed.

"What? You still want to say you're human?"

"If we use that definition, it's the same for you and me and all Military Artists."

"I'm not stubborn on whether I'm human or not."

"You might be like that but, your way of thinking......"

"Uh?"

"Never mind. That's part of your end. Besides, for you, you aren't afraid of any end."

"Because my ending has been decided already."

"Even your own death is the same as your wish and prediction? Perhaps your desire is stronger than anyone else's."

"You should know what kind of person I am."

Nelphilia shrugged.

Dixerio stood up and took out the Dite from his weapon harness.

"Then let's begin."

".... Geez."

The figure behind Dixerio moved as the moonlight girl waved her hand. Dixerio kept trying not to look at her. It was better not to look at her as he knew her beauty would conquer his heart. What he was about to do right now was pretty important.

"All right. You can go and make a huge ruckus."

Her voice seemed far. At the same time, he felt her presence retreating and finally disappeared.

"But the time is limited."

But he could still hear her.

That wasn't the only change. No one would have perceived such a tiny change? No. The people who existed here to notice that change weren't here.

Next came the other change.

The tiny change occurred in the artificial light. To say it correctly it was the face of the light because it hurt one's eyes to discern the seven lights.

And, and, one more change....

"You have to take care of it because it's begging for new bait."

A tiny light appeared before Dixerio but that light swiftly expanded into a huge flame. It continued to burgeon and then it spat out a figure. A female writhed with fire.

"Bait like her."

"I know......"

Dixerio restored his Dite.

As if responding to the sound that restored the Dite, the girl of flame attacked him.

Gorneo found her.

Tonight was a clear night in which one could see the moon. But because the moon was too clear, so clear that it exuded a feeling of something dignified. Tonight was such a night as if the moonlight was filtering through a layer of ice, allowing its icy cold to slowly seep through the skin, making the people forget that the city had entered a tropical zone. Still, sweat continued to gush out from Gorneo's chest as he was constantly jumping and running, seeping through his clothes.

Where would that girl go?

In the end, he decided to search for Shante by moving from one rooftop to the next.

(Why am I doing this?)

He still asked himself this question even though he didn't want to deliberately think of it. Why? Why did he have to run around to search for her?

He had been caught into different kinds of trouble since entering Zuellni and meeting Shante. Shante had a habit of acting like a beast because of her upbringing. Her education with humans started from zero at the time when Gorneo started teaching her. Though Shante had grasped hold of human knowledge, she still acted before she thought, something she did out of habit, and any troublesome things that rose from her actions were dealt with by Gorneo.

The troubles that Shante caused were of a basic level. Gorneo would have stopped interacting with her if not for her talent in Military Arts. She was an exceptional Military Artist. Her ability was very useful in an organized fight. Besides, Shante herself seemed to really like Gorneo as she obeyed his instructions in the fights. Perhaps because of her childhood, living as part of a pack of animals to hunt preys, she might have viewed Gorneo as the leader of the pack.

The two of them were invited into a platoon, helping to turn the fifth platoon into one of the number one teams in Zuellni, and recently they almost took first place alongside Vance's 1st platoon.

"Really!" Gorneo complained and jumped again. His large body looked weightless underneath the in the moonlit city as he moved speedily over buildings.

Where was she? Would she be somewhere higher? Gorneo continued to leap through the night sky of Grendan, heedless of the consequences.

"That idiot......!" he murmured and continued to jump.

He continued leaping from building to building but he failed to find a clue. The only place of his search was Grendan because she couldn't be in anywhere else but here.

But why?

He believed that masked crowd was related to Shante's disappearance, but why had they targeted her? He had no idea why. He admitted Shante's physique was special. There was something she could do that even the Queen couldn't. Maybe the masked crowd wanted her physique. They wanted to capture her and use her in an experiment. But then why in that kind of place and with that timing?

Even Gorneo himself couldn't think of an answer. There were too few clues for speculation. Perhaps those nerds in the Alchemy Department had yielded to their curiosity to set this trap, or perhaps Shante was just lured to Grendan by her hunger for Grendan's food, and then there might be a trap to catch wild beasts next to the food.

That was why Gorneo was now jumping in Grendan.

He continued to leap and finally found her.

"Uh........"

On top of a building that wasn't that high.

For a moment, Gorneo thought that thing was a decoration on top of the building. That type of decoration could only be found on old buildings.

It was one of them...... but either way, it just looked too big........ Through the weak light. Gorneo only understood after having his gaze stay on that thing for a long moment.

That figure was doing everything she could so no one knew she existed.

As if she was afraid of something.

In order to escape someone's eyes.

A feeling of waiting for something to walk past her. She held such a desperate mental preparation. That was why she kept very still.

"Shante!"

He had already decided what to do once he found her. Of course, to shout angrily. That was his decision. But in reality he breathed in deeply several times to dispel the exhaustion and anger in him. He couldn't scold her after noticing her unusual behavior.

Because she failed to detect his presence. Usually, she was very sensitive to him.

Her body that was intending to become a stone trembled, she turned around and saw him.

"....................Gorneo!" she shouted with widened eyes and leaped for him. Her arms hung about his neck and she hugged him with unusual strength.

"Gorneo! Gorneo! Gorneo!"

She continued to shout his name as she buried her head in his chest. One could feel that she really could melt into his body.

"Slow down. Shante...... hey, what's the matter?"

He was used to her hugging him but she had never hugged him with so much strength, and he had never seen her so frightened. She was usually very lively and optimistic. A girl without any evil thoughts. Someone who was the same inside and out. She laughed when she wanted, got angry when she wanted. She never hid her emotions. All her feelings were shown on her face.

That was why he was used to her reaction and action. That was why he was anxious at her unusual behavior.

She stopped calling his name. She put all her weight onto her arms that were encircling his neck, and she curled up, biting her thumb like a baby. The shaking of her small body was sent into Gorneo's without reserve.

Gorneo looked at her. He didn't know what to do. Should he return to the Luckens home or head straight back to Zuellni? There shouldn't be anything he needed to take back with him. He suddenly realized that he had taken off his fighting suit in Zuellni. What he was wearing now was just the clothes he wore for practice. The density of a fighting suit...... The fighting suit could prevent pollutants from invading his body. That was something he should take back. Not that Grendan's fighting suits were worse though.

Anyway, Shante wouldn't want to see any unfamiliar faces right now. Gorneo himself wouldn't feel comfortable bringing her to his own home, a house full of strangers to her. It was better to return to Zuellni to calm her down.

"Uh."

He had decided.

He sat down. Shante curled up on top of him with her legs crossed like a baby.

"Really......" he complained as he patted her head. She lifted her head to look at him and then closed her eyes. She must not have slept after coming to Grendan, and several parts of her body were dirty. Either way, he had found her. He patted her head with a soothed heart.

That was it. The density of the fighting suit. Let it go. Grendan's technique wouldn't be behind Zuellni's. Besides, Grendan's scientists kept honing their skill to meet Cauntia's challenges. Grendan's technique would not be behind Zuellni's.

In that case, he could only act. But let's wait a bit. Wait till she had slept. Keep himself still like this until she falls into a deep sleep. After that, he could head straight for Zuellni. He knew Shante could sleep better this way.

But he had made a mistake. He should have moved once he had decided.

Because it was already too late even if he were to move immediately, and that event would still happen even they were in Zuellni.

Even so.......... it was wrong to reproach him.

"...... What?"

He felt the air had changed.

The drifting cloud cover hid the moon. The artificial light in this vicinity was already stronger than the light of the moon.

It was already too late by the time he realized this.

The sound of rumbling thunder came from somewhere in the distant sky. Flashes of light illuminated the clouds. Gorneo didn't know what was happening. The tension felt different from a fight. The feeling of having pressed a wrong button of a control mechanism stimulated his skin. He couldn't quite express this feeling with words. He could do nothing but feel strange at this.

It was already too late.

"Ah!"

The sudden heat in his arms made him stand up but he didn't push away that heat. His instinctive reaction was to drop that heat source but he controlled it by sheer will. The heat source leaped from his arms in high speed.

That heat source was Shante.

"Hey......"

".........."

Kei emitted from Shante's body, increasing so speedily that it changed into heat.

"Could it be........"

He could only watch this in shock.

Usually the controlled Kei would become ripples. Those ripples would become waves for stronger Military Artists and then they were turned into external Kei. The redundant ripples created heat. However, the current situation was different. It was impossible to keep releasing heat only.

........ In that case, this must be Karen Kei.

"Hey, Shante!"

She didn't reply. With her back facing him, she seemed to be searching for something. Her arms were by her sides. She hadn't touched her Dite. Without the restored Dite, the Karen Kei had no medium. Did that mean this phenomenon was created because she wasn't holding a Dite?

Heat twisted the scenery. He could clearly see the artificial light was separated into seven colors in the twisted air.

"Shante. Stop!"

The heat surrounding her had risen to an unbelievable level. Gorneo took a step back as she leaped forward.

"Hey!" he roared but she didn't stop. She headed for the city's edge with shocking speed, leaving only a red afterimage.

"Damn!"

Again. The same as that time........

Someone was controlling her.

"Damn!" he shouted and chased after her.

"Wait up!" he kept shouting but she didn't stop. The distance between the two of them widened, showing no signs of shrinking. Her figure became smaller and smaller in his sight.

Until she disappeared.

"Shante........"

He kept leaping in her direction and soon, he found her again.

A colossal pillar of fire was burning in the air on the city's edge.

A feeling he was used to came through the iron whips in his hands. It was heavy and strong, as if it was sucked to his palms. He gazed at the thing closing in on him as he felt that feeling in his hand.

A beautiful woman.

If one was to say that Nelphilia was beautiful beyond a demon, then this woman before him was beautiful beyond imagination. Flame writhed around the important parts of her naked body. The spear was pointed at the sky like an army's flag. The flame emitting from her body seemed to have let her red hair melt with her surrounding flames, making the flames obey her.

The woman leading the army of fire closed in on him.

Her name was the Fire God. That was how they called her. He took her power in the midst of battle against the Wolf Faces, abandoned her in the City of Forest Erupa, and she came to Zuellni through the playing of fate. She was Dixerio's spoils.

The Fire God.

Shante.

Her fangs were now biting down on him.

He had been waiting for this for a long time.

The spear went straight for his head. Originally, the point of the weapon was used to stab, and its handle used to bash.

Dixerio backed away and effortlessly avoided the attack.

The flame writhing up the spear scattered because of the impact and turned into a gigantic fire pillar, painting the night sky of Grendan red. Nothing existed in the city that could see this scenery. The world had -->>

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