Versus Up

Roko moaned as he pushed a plank of wood off his body. The hammer monster had smashed him and Melia across the warehouse and right into an empty crate. He was still alive but every inch of his body was trying to shut him down, refusing to start moving again without a great deal of pain. Every bone in his body felt like they had been shattered into multiple pieces. Inch by inch, Roko forced him arm to move up, wincing all along the way as pain pricked him for every inch he forced out of them. Reaching into his pocket, Roko pulled out the two potions the potionseller had given him. Healing potions he had said and there was no better time to use them. He uncorked one of the potions and spotted the unconscious Melia lying not far from him. With strenuous effort, Roko forced his body to lift and flip around, drawing himself close enough to shove the potion into Melia's mouth. For a brief instant, Roko hoped she would choke on it for all the trouble she had given him but he rescinded that. Once she had drunk the full potion, Roko pulled himself up again and uncorked the last potion. Downing the strange liquid, Roko cold actually feel his body grow light again. The pain in his head subsided and he thought he could feel his bones repairing themselves inside his own body. Though that was probably just a feeling. Once he finished the potion, Roko actually felt well enough to push himself up and out of the debris. Picking up his sword once more, Roko took stock of the situation.

The number of hammer monsters had greatly diminished from a large crowd to only a handful. There was enough to still cause trouble but not overwhelmingly so. The girls of the monsters that have been slain were left there, on their knees, slumped over and unresponsive. They have begun to pile up and get in the way of the knights without Helena around to rescue the girls. Thankfully the monsters don't seem interested in attacking the girls either. Helena on the other hand was busying trying to fend off both the hammer monster that attacked Roko and the special pickaxe monster. She was making little progress against them as they shrugged off her ice spells. Bedlam hadn't moved from his spot, smug as ever.

Taking a deep breath, Roko began walking towards the hammer monster. As he drew close, a girl suddenly run up in front of him.

"Please don't hurt him! He's my-"

Roko punched her in the face, knocking her out before she could finish her sentence.

"Wait, what?!" Helena cried as she realized Roko had returned, "Was that necessary?"

"I'm getting tired of this." Roko growled as he raised his sword, "I have lost..."

Roko stabbed into the back of the hammer monster. The monster roared and tried to throw Roko off but Roko kicked one foot out from under it and pushed it to the ground, driving his sword deeper and deeper as it spurted black blood onto him.

"ALL PATIENCE!" Roko roared as he began to shift the sword around the inside of the monster, "Analyze!"

The monster's life displayed and rapidly began to deplete as Roko drew his sword out and stabbed the monster again.

"Umm..."

Roko stabbed the monster again and again until its life finally depleted to zero and it melted into a pool of black liquid. All fighting and noise seemed to stop as Roko took a few breaths to steady himself once again. Then he turned his eyes towards the pickaxe monster who seemed to balk at his glare.

"Analyze."

Roko made steady steps towards the pickaxe monster who roared as it raised one of its arms up and slashed down at Roko. Roko stepped to the side slightly, letting the attack crack the ground, inches away from his body as he continued to move forward. The monster tried to back up to get in a good angle to attack again but Roko stepped right up to the monster and stabbed it in the stomach. The monster screech and began to trash about but Roko let go of his sword, letting the monster step back with the sword embedded in its body. As the monster recovered from its wound, Roko kicked the butt of his sword, stabbing it deep and knocking the monster backward as well. The monster screeched but began to raise its arms to try and attack again. Roko punched the butt of his sword again, causing the monster's attack to get interrupted. Every time the monster would try to attack, Roko would kick or punch his sword, each time interrupting the monster until his health grew low enough that Roko made one last kick before drawing his sword and decapitating the monster, draining the last of its health and killing it at last.

With his protector dead, Roko turned his glare at Bedlam who looked mildly concerned before he returned to his usual smugness.

"Look." Bedlam sneered, "My arm regenerated. How's about that handshake now?"

Bedlam offered his monstrously large hand out in a mock handshake. Roko grabbed his hand, turned it face down and stabbed his sword through it, pinning it to the ground. Bedlam cried out in pain but Roko quickly swung his knee up and smashed Bedlam's teeth in. Roko continued to bash Bedlam in the face before he pulled Bedlam's head up by the hair and began to savagely punch Bedlam over and over again.

"Y-You little..." Bedlam said in between pummelings. He raised his free arm to try and grab Roko but Roko punched him in the eye, interrupting him with a spurt of pain.

"W-Whoa, whoa, hold on Roko!"

"S-Stoppp!"

Roko continued to try and beat the lights out of Bedlam as Helena and Daniel both grabbed onto him and pull him away. As they forced him back, Roko grabbed onto his sword and took it back with him.

"Roko?! Roko?! Calm. Calm down." Helena said soothingly as she and Daniel dropped Roko back on the ground a few feet away from Bedlam.

"I'm okay." Roko gasped, "I'm okay."

"Got that out of your system?" Helena grinned, "You were doing pretty good though. Maybe we shouldn't have stopped you?"

"No...no it's fine." Roko sighed, "He'll just regenerate from that anyway. I was just wasting my energy."

"Felt good though didn't it?"

"I feel very much refreshed."

"I feel refreshed and I was just watching."

"Now we can focus on finding out a plan on how to kill him."

"Can you guys just capture him instead?" Daniel said nervously.

"...So how do we kill him?" Roko asked.

"You can't kill me." Bedlam said as he pushed himself back up again, "I'm too powerful for you."

"Ey yo, Roko, you want to smash his face in again?"

"I don't know, Helena, do you want to freeze his arm again?"

"I'm invincible!" Bedlam cried as he grabbed his grimoire, "If I must show you the power of our great god, I will use it to crush you without mercy!"

The remaining monsters began to shudder and burst apart as the remaining girls jolted and fell to their knees unconscious. The same liquid that were the only remains of the deceased monsters also jumped up, flying around the warehouse before splattering back into the ground into a familiar magic circle. The circle glowed with dark light and four giant tentacles erupted from the ground, thrashing about wildly.

"Oh, we're doing this again." Roko sighed.

"Wow, never seen this before." Helena smirked.

"You won't sound so smug once I smash you into the ground!"

One of the tentacles reached out and flung itself down at the group until Roko stepped up and sliced the tip of the tentacle off.

"These tentacles has lower stats than the ones from underground." Roko explained, "I assume using whatever this liquid is doesn't make for good ritual components."

"Wow, he must be really desperate then." Helena nodded.

"Or really uncreative." Roland chuckled.

"Oh yeah?! How's this for uncreative?!"

The tentacles suddenly turned and punched through the walls of the warehouse. The sound of the slithering tentacles could be heard wrapping around the building until a giant jolt alerted them to the grinding and creaking of the entire warehouse bending inward.

"Are you seriously trying to bring the entire building down around us?!" Helena cried, "You know you're in here too!"

"He can regenerate." Roswell said, "We can't."

"More importantly, neither can the girls." Roko added as he turned to the unconscious women left on the ground, "We're going to need to start evacuating them."

"That's a lot of people though." Roland grimaced, "Do you think Bedlam would like to help?"

"Oh sure." Bedlam sneered, "I can give you some of these hands."

"Okay, so he's going to be useless." Roko sighed, "Let's just ignore him and start getting everybody out."

Everyone nodded but in an inhuman instant, Bedlam leaped into the air, closing the distance between him and Roko in a split second as he raised his fist to exact some revenge. Roko tried to bring up his sword in defense though he didn't think it would provide much defense against Bedlam's monstrous strength. Roko closed his eyes in anticipation of the impact but Roswell reached around him and blocked the attack with his shield. Bedlam scowled at the knight who just smiled politely back at him. Roland quickly stepped in with his sword, slashing the priest away from the two of them.

"You two get moving." Roswell said, "We'll hold this gentleman off."

"You only think you will." Bedlam growled as he opened his grimoire and summoned two more tentacles.

"Get moving, Helena, Roko." Roland smirked, "You have a lot of work ahead of you."

"Alright then." Helena nodded and began to run towards the group of girls.

"You want to help?" Roko called across the room to Daniel.

"O-Oh! Me?! Y-Yes! Of course!"

With the three of them working together, they managed to move all the girls out of the warehouse, their only obstacle being a single tentacle that had wrapped itself over the main gate which Roko had to cut off once or twice in order to allow them to escape. As Roko dragged the unconscious body of Melia out and onto the pavement outside, Helena and David were already there, taking a moment to recover their breath from their noble ordeal.

"Oh hey. I almost forgot about her." Helena smiled as she placed a finger over Melia's pulse, "She doesn't look that bad actually, for having been smashed by an otherworldly monster."

"I used a potion on her." Roko explained as he sat down to recover his own stamina, "I don't know how effective they are normally but it seems to be working fine."

"Thank goodness you had that then." Helena smiled, "How'd you get them by the way?"

"I made a guy laugh, I guess."

"Must've been one hell of a joke." Helena laughed, "Anyway, we need to talk. Daniel."

"Huh?!" Daniel looked up nervously, "W-What is it?"

"I don't know if we can kill him but there might not be any other option considering how powerful he is." Helena said solemnly, "And we certainly don't need you getting in the way. So I'm going to ask you now. Do you know anyway we can incapacitate him? I would prefer not killing him either but at this rate, I might have to call the police to help. This is your one chance to help us before we escalate things. Trust me, I don't want to kill him either."

Daniel looked down, "I...I don't really know him that well. He just showed up one day and we haven't really gotten to know each other."

"I assume he was already in the cult by then?" Roko asked.

"I-I think so. I didn't learn about the cult until later. Anyway, I don't know about any weak points or anything that you can use."

"I can't imagine that you would."

"B-But maybe you can talk to him?!"

"Bedlam's too self absorbed to bother listening to reason." Roko scoffed, "His morality left him a long time ago when he got that book."

"T-That's it! Just take the book away from him!" Daniel cried.

"Hmmm..." Helena thought his idea over, "I don't know if it would necessarily cause any change but it would stop him from using anymore weird spells."

"If we can't stop him, the least we can do is steal the book." Roko nodded, "The problem is getting our hands on it. Despite how it's been going, he's not a pushover."

"It's out best shot." Helena sighed, "...By the way, you did tell Roland and Roswell they can escape too right?"

"No."

"..."

"We got time." Roko smirked, "Warehouse still has about 24% of its health."

"Actually, has the tentacles stopped moving?" Daniel asked.

…

"This doesn't bode well."

Roko and Helena stepped warily up to the entrance of the warehouse. Bedlam stood there, arms crossed with a smug look of superiority on his face as his tentacles held Roland and Roswell up in the air, helpless.

"Goddammit, really Roland?"

"Hey, it's not my fault! We were slicing the tentacles up when they suddenly began regenerating into smaller tentacles from the stump and grabbed us before we could do anything."

"All right, I'll get you out of there." Helena sighed as she stepped into the warehouse and pointed a finger at the tentacles holding Roland up.

One of the remaining tentacles reacted, lunging towards Helena. Roko stepped in and slammed the side of his blade against the appendage, knocking it away from the both of them.

"Smart enough not to cut it I see." Bedlam sneered, "That's why you're the most troublesome one."

"I'm sorry to hear that common sense is such a scarcity in this world." Roko retorted.

"Talk all you want but you can't talk your way out of this." Bedlam snapped his fingers and the tentacles drew Roland and Roswell's arms and legs taut, "Now, how about you two surrender before I start tearing off limbs?"

"How about I tear out your organs?"

"Roko, cool it." Helena said, keeping Roko back, "We can't let him kill them. We don't have much of a choice."

"Good to hear some reason finally." Bedlam laughed, "Now, how about the little princess come over here? Once I've secured her, I'll be willing to let these two knights go."

"Don't do it, Helena!" Roland cried as he struggled to pull his arms back.

"It'll be fine, Roland." Helena gulped, "Nobody has to die this way."

"I'll come with then." Roko nodded.

"YOU stay there." Bedlam snarled, "Once I have Helena in my hands, I'll take great pleasure in tearing your tongue out of your mouth."

"You mean this one?" Roko stuck his tongue out at Bedlam, "Come and get it you eunuch."

"Hahaha." Helena laughed, "You're hilarious, Roko. Now stay there."

Roko leaned his sword against his shoulder as Helena began the slow walk towards Bedlam. Roland continued to struggle against the tentacles as everyone else watched in silence as Helena approached Bedlam and finally stood before him. Bedlam sneered and raised his hand over Helena's head. At that moment, Roko turned his sword around in his hands and flung it with all this strength across the room. The sword stabbed into Bedlam's side, causing him to cry out in pain and take a step back. Helena quickly grabbed onto the handle of the sword and called out, "Ice!"

Bedlam's eyes widened as half of his torso suddenly froze over and shattered, causing his entire body to collapse onto the ground. Helena wiped the black blood from her face and took the sword to one of the tentacles, lopping it off at the base and freein, Roland, sending him plummeting to the ground. As Helena turned to help Roland, she tossed the sword over to Roko who had already been running to Roswell's tentacle, slicing him free as well.

"I thin I hit mah nose." Roland winced as Helena pulled the tentacles off his body, "Am I bleeding?"

"No, you're fine, you little drama queen." Helena said as she pulled Roland up, "Now let's get out of here!"

"Why?"

The warehouse began rumbling again as a tentacle wrapped itself back over the exit and the entire building began to bend inward once again.

"That's why!" Helena cried, "Get going, we need to cut our way out!"

Roland and Roswell scrambled to pick up their dropped armaments as Roko ran back over to Helena.

"We need to go!" Helena shouted over the cracking and creaking.

"You guys go on ahead." Roko replied.

Helena nodded and ran with the knights towards the exit. Roko turned to look down at Bedlam. Despite missing almost half his torso, he glared up at Roko as he gripped the glowing red grimoire in his hand.

"You piece of trash!" Bedlam cried, "I'm taking you down if it's the last thing I do."

"And I'm taking that book." Roko said as he took his sword and stabbed it into Bedlam's arm. But no matter how Roko tried to stab and slice his arm, the arm refused to come off or drop the grimoire, regenerating at an unusual pace. The warehouse's health was displayed in Roko's eyes so he knew he didn't have much time but whatever he did, he could not get Bedlam to relinquish the tome.

"Roko!" Helena's voice called out from beyond the exit, "There's no time! The exit is open! You have to go!"

Roko looked back to see his friends safely outside the warehouse but he turned back to the grimoire, hesitant to abandon it. It took a small moment but Roko finally decided to bite his lip and turn around, running towards the exit. He was only a few feet away when a tentacle suddenly wrapped around his ankle and pulled him up, drawing him back into the middle of the collapsing warehouse.

"You..." Bedlam sneered as he managed to push his body back up even as it was regenerating, "If nobody else, I will kill you at the very least."

As Roko hung upside down over Bedlam, he could hear Helena's distant screaming and in the corner of his eye, he could see that Helena was desperately trying to dive back into the warehouse but Roland and Roswell were pulling her further away from the collapsing building. There was no time to escape anymore so Roko brought his sword around to try and cut his leg free but another tentacle appeared from the ground and grabbed onto his arm, pulling it back.

"No tricksies this time, I'm afraid." Bedlam grinned manically, "You're going to die here with me. Though I'm going to be the only one who survives. And once I'm free, I'll go after your friends. And once I've got my hands on Princess Helena, I'm going to tear off her clothes and have my way with her before I throw her into the hands of our god. It's the least I deserve. I'm going to enjoy watching her face well up with tears as I shove my hard-"

A blast of ice suddenly flew through the open entrance and hit Bedlam's face, freezing it instantly. As the last bit of the warehouse's health ticked down and the roof began to cave down on them, Roko's body was freed and he fell with the debris towards the ground.