The Bitter Waters [3]

Hours passed, and soon, the darkness of the night fell and blanketed the region of Hydro.

The wild beasts in the wilderness went to their resting places, and so did the civilized humans in the cities.

It was just another night— like any other.

Well... That's if you don't count the unusually bright moonlight tonight.

It was currently a full moon.

It seems like tonight, the moonlight will guide the trio.

* * *

"That should do it," Isaac said with a sigh as he locked his cafe's doors. He then looked around and saw the silent streets of Fontaine.

He then looked at his current attire. In this kind of situation, he couldn't help but lampoon. "Man, if someone saw me dressed like this near midnight, what would others think?"

Currently, Isaac was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with a brown vest on top. Over it was a black coat that seemed to be able to blend in with the night.

'This isn't even from the system,' Isaac hummed as he looked at his outfit. 'With all the money I've garnered, buying these with Mora didn't hurt me a bit.'

"Now... To complete the set..." After looking at his current outfit, Isaac couldn't help but smile as he took out an item from the system inventory.

His hand reached from the void and soon, a black tricorn hat appeared. Without any hesitation, he donned it.

Now with the hat, Isaac's image drastically changed. If someone were to look at him, their first honest reaction would be—

Fear.

And Isaac wanted them to feel that. It was the main reason he first wanted this outfit.

To strike fear in others.

"Well then," After completing his set, Isaac twirled his dendro vision around his finger first before placing it in his pocket. "It's time to do what hunters do..."

"A Hunter Must Hunt."

With this said, Isaac started walking, his figure slowly blending in with the ever-so-blanketing shade of night.

* * *

Isaac followed along to their intended meeting spot, and sure enough, under one particular tree, he saw two figures.

The two of them then noticed Isaac's figure approaching. Seeing this, Isaac could only wave a hand.

"Nice evening, innit?" Isaac approached them and opened up a conversation with a casual smile.

"What's with that outfit?" However, Furina seems to be too focused on his attire.

"I could say the same to you." Isaac looked over to Furina and spoke. "I mean..."

"Aren't you wearing practically the same as mine?"

Similar to Isaac, Furina also changed attire. She was now wearing a long black tailcoat and had a navy blue waistcoat underneath it.

"Why, this is necessary!" Furina quickly retorted. "The proper occasions require proper attire!"

"On the other hand—" Furina then pointed at Isaac's head. "Why do you have the same hat as Clorinde?!"

"If I knew that you two would be wearing one, I would have brought one too!" Furina bemoaned.

Hearing this, Isaac turned his head and looked at Clorinde. Looking at her figure, Isaac couldn't help but think, 'She didn't change outfit... Understandable.'

Heaving a deep sigh, he looked over to Furina again and answered her question. "A hunter must have appropriate garments for hunting, do they not?"

Hearing the word 'hunter', Clorinde's eyes twitched for a moment as if his words caught her interest. She then looked over to Isaac.

"Hunter? That's an odd way of putting it," Furina hummed. "But then again, there is the Mare—"

"Ahem." Just then, Clorinde interrupted Furina. She then looked at her and spoke, "Lady Furina."

Realizing that she was just about to divulge secret information, Furina quickly changed the subject. "Actually—! it's not that bad!"

'...she was about to say the Marechaussee Hunters, wasn't she?' Isaac thought. In the end, he could only deliberately ignore it.

"Alright, enough of this. Let's move on to our objective." He decided to avert the subject.

"Indeed." Clorinde nodded lightly.

Soon, the two of them looked over to Furina who held this operation's key objectives.

"Alright, listen up! Here's what we're going to do!" Seeing their gazes drifting over to her, Furina cleared her throat and began giving out info.

She began by giving out the general location of the secret base as well as the potential dangers.

Soon, she finished speaking.

"Did the two of you get all that?" Furina looked over to the two.

"I have no problems." Isaac nodded lightly as he absorbed all the info. He then looked to Clorinde. "How about you, miss?"

"I'm fine." Clorinde crossed her hand as she lightly nodded too.

"Then it's decided," Furina said as she pointed at a certain location. "Let's set off!"

* * *

The trio walked quietly under the moonlight, never letting their presence be known.

Soon, they reached the beach where they continued to walk along the coastline.

Soon enough, they found something.

It was a cave entrance.

"Looks like we're here," Isaac said as he stepped into the cave. He then took a quick sniff of the air. "It seems like a cave connecting underwater..."

"Everyone, be careful," Isaac decided to take the lead. Equipped with his dendro vision and special revolver, he was feeling pretty confident.

The three of them walked deeper and deeper into the cave. They've made some twists and turns, slowly descending more and more.

"Hold up," While walking, Isaac suddenly noticed something and raised his hand. "What's that?"

"It's... A gate?" Furina walked over to his side and looked at where he was looking at.

"There's a lever nearby," Clorinde said as she looked at something near the gate.

They had stumbled upon what seemed like an entrance. With a stone gate and a lever not too far from it. Below their feet, rusted metallic flooring filled the ground.

Observing the environment, Isaac quickly made a speculation.

"My nonexistent years' worth of experience tells me that we shouldn't pull that willy-nilly," Isaac said plainly as he pointed at the lever. "Unless we're sure that it won't cause any—"

Click*

"Ah— it went down," Furina said, close to the lever. Her hand was just inches away from the lever.

Silence descended upon the trio.

"..." Isaac and Clorinde became speechless at what their goddess had just done.

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Sensing their gaze, Furina quickly retorted. "I didn't even try to pull it! It just went down on its own without much force!"

'I'm gonna die here, won't I?' Isaac lampooned as he could only smile bitterly as he raised a thumb.

"Hey! I know you're lampooning!" Furina instantly guessed Isaac's gestures. "I told you! It just went down on its own—"

Rumble—*

Before Furina could finish her sentence, the entire cave that they were in suddenly started trembling.

"Everyone! Be careful!" Isaac quickly became vigilant and was ready to use his vision.

Crack—!*

Rumble!*

Just then, the metallic floor beneath them began to shift— it was as if it was opening up!

'Not good!' Isaac thought. His mind churned and looked at the other two. "You two! Hold on!"

Isaac made a guess— and that the floor would open up beneath them!

Soon enough, his suspicions were correct. The metallic floor began to crack and open up!

'We need something to hold on to!'

Collecting elemental energy, Isaac quickly used his Dendro vision. He wanted to materialize a vine or sort to help them from falling.

However, he was just a second too late.

Boom!*

The floor abruptly sped up, and before the three could even process what happened, the floor beneath them suddenly separated, leading to the unknown.

'Shit!' Isaac's face twisted as he caught sight of this. Isaac had a lot of fears— and one fear that stood out in Isaac's mind the most was the fear of the unknown.

After all, The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

At this moment, from what felt like time was frozen, there was only one thing present in Isaac's mind.

In less than a second, his eye moved and looked at Furina.

For what seemed like a fraction of a second, he was able to see Clorinde reaching up inches to Furina.

In this scene, although the most natural and usual thought of Isaac was to first wonder if he would be safe or not— the only thought present was:

'She's safe...'

'That's a relief.'

Soon, in Isaac's perception, time began to move normally again. Not long after, he and the two women fell.

Clorinde quickly reached for what looked like a grappling gun and, while holding Furina, shot upwards.

"Huff... Huff..." Bewildered by the sudden and abrupt change in the situation, Clorinde heaved heavily. She then looked at Furina who she was still holding. "Lady Furina, are you alright?"

She didn't receive an answer.

"Lady Furina—" Clorinde tried to ask her again, but was interrupted by the latter.

Her eyes were fixated down below as her face went pale at the sudden folding of events.

"Isaac..." Furina's trembling voice drifted over to Clorinde's ear as if breaking to a cry. "My... My assistant..."

"Isaac!"

As her words fell down the dark depths beneath them, the figure of Isaac had already vanished from her sight.

Splash—!*

The only thing she heard was the echoing splashes of water at the very end of the deep pit— as what she assumed Isaac's body would have hit.

* * *

A/N: Let me cook.