Chapter 35 - "Past the Point of Return"

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While the group is looking at Garfiel Tinsel, who's standing inside of the barrier, looking at Frederica Baumann, the group is shocked with what they just heard.

Jens : "S-Sister?!"

That instant, everyone except Tattletale was shocked that the maid of the Roswaal Mansion, Frederica Baumann, was the sister of this boy, Garfiel Tinsel.

Frederica : "You've gott—"

Garfiel : "Leave. Now!"

Not allowing Frederica to finish her sentence, Garfiel interrupts her and forces everyone to leave, or else he'll fight.

Jens : "You don't understand Garfiel. Why the fuck would we do something horrible to your village? We want to protect it instead! Allow us to go in!"

Trying to convince Garfiel, Jens opens up his arms and walks slowly towards him. However, Garfiel lifts an eyebrow up in a confused matter.

Garfiel : "I've heard many lies in ma life, za Amazin' me Garfiel can't be fooled, can hay?"

Ram : "You fool! You really are a fool! How dare you, don't you understand that these actions of yours have consequences to the whole earth?"

The maid with pink hair grabs her wooden wand and points it towards Garfiel.

Ram : "Don't you even understand that we're trying to help you?"

Garfiel : "~Tsk!"

Jens bit his lip, he looked around him, and notices Tattletale grabbing a knife from her back. Adrenaline started to rush through his veins and body. There was no need to fight, and then she pulled that knife. Why? Because she wants to make things easier for them?

She took a step forward and threw that knife right towards Garfiel.

Nathan : "Wha—?!"

The grass of the ground was painted in crimson red, blood. Jens jumped forward and protected Garfiel with the palm of his hand. The knife went right through Jens' hand and started to bleed.

Emilia : "JENS!"

Hearing the scream of Emilia, Jens did not move and instead looked Tattletale right in the eyes.

Garfiel : "W-What?!"

Tattletale : "Jens?!"

Jens : "For fuck sake. There is no need to fight our own people, Tattletale. We are ALL a team. All humans… No… All individuals who fight for a great end, is our team."

Tattletale slowly narrowed her eyes. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Emilia rushed towards Jens' hand, grabbed it, and started healing it.

Garfiel : "Oi, Captain bro, why did ya do that? I would've ended dead if ya didn't."

Jens : "Is that a rhetorical question you ask me? You literally answered it already."

Not quite understanding what Jens said, Garfiel just stared at him in confusion. The wound of his hand started to heal after Emilia kept healing it thanks to Spiritual Arts.

Frederica : "Garfiel… Not all humans are your enemies. Why don't you understand that?"

Garfiel : "That bastard… Roswaal…"

Jens : "Whatever he said to you… Whatever he did to you… We aren't like him. Please, allow us to enter the Sanc—"

Yang : "JENS!"

Again hearing a scream, everyone turns towards Yang, who was the one that screamed. Her face gave off the expression of fear, and like that, everyone looked at what she was looking at.

She was looking at the village, where suddenly at least twenty people got murdered. It started to rain blood, but the Barrier didn't allow the blood to leave those grounds.

Jens : "Oh my god…"

Corpses of villages were being thrown at the border of the Sanctuary. Some of the corpses left the Barrier, and some were blocked by the Barrier. Seeing this Emilia bit her lip and narrowed her eyes.

Emilia : "Tch!"

She canceled the healing, and entered the Barrier as reckless as possible.

Jens : "EMILIA?!"

Garfiel stood there, hopeless as he looked at his own village getting mass murdered. Every single one of the remaining Emilia Camp entered the Sanctuary Barrier, and Garfiel Tinsel followed them.

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The village was poor.

Buildings stood on the point of collapsing. They were dusty, and there was grass of at least a meter tall.

Emilia ran towards the pile of corpses, and the group followed her. Upon arriving, Garfiel looked at the corpses with an expression of sadness. Frederica put her hand on his shoulder, but he pushed her away.

Garfiel : "This 's all y'all fault! Y'all should've never come he–"

Lisa : "It's technically the fault of Roswaal and the Clowns of V. Also the fault of the Dragon, who created this Bar—"

Garfiel : "Whazza does 't f'ckin matter?!"

Lisa : "Right, sorry."

Emilia : "Who did this?! Where is that person?"

??? : "Oh honey…"

Suddenly, the corpses start to shiver. Out of their, eyes, mouths, ears, a black kind of mist leaves their body and forms something from above the corpses. Immediately, everyone grabs their weapons.

After a few seconds, the black mist disappears, and it forms an actual body. A quite… pretty woman appeared in front of the group.

??? : "It seems, at last, we finally reunite, Nathan Harmonia."

The woman has silver-blonde hair, that hung down to the small of her back. The irises of her eyes eyes are pale, almost white. From a distance, or perhaps in poor lightning, it would be impossible to make out what direction she was looking at. She wears a beautiful black dress which exposes her legs and shoulders. She has beautiful eyelashes and her nails are black.

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Nathan : "Oh my god…"

Looking at the woman, Nathan is left shocked. Melissa looks more closely at the woman, and bits her teeth as hard as possible.

Lisa : "Disgusting eyes. Same dress as ever. It's unable to be mistaken. You are… Ash of Distress II."

Ash : "Please, Tattletale, call me Ash."

Nathan : "You… How the fuck are you still alive! I crushed your skull…. I EVEN SEALED YOU!"

Nathan swung his arms out of anger, and tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.

Ash : "Did you? I mean, the latter? Not really, that kind of magic is nothing against me. You truly are depressing, just like your friend Melissa. How are you doing honey?"

Jens : "Calm down, please. Who is this woman?"

Lisa : "It's the Ash of Distress II. Mangled Wings. Damsel of Distress. Ash the Second. Swansong. However you want to call her, she's a member of the Blood Cloud."

Ash : "Pretty little Thinker. Fucking Thinkers."

Jens : "What are you doing? No, why are you here?"

She looked at the boy, Jens."

Ash : "Well, isn't it obvious? We follow the orders of our King. Disobeying is a No-Go what so ever, so I rather obey."

Jens : "Tsk~!"

Swinging his hands, Jens created his Spear and threw it towards a corpse she was standing on. Widening her eyes, she realized Jens disappeared in a flash of light. Appearing behind the Ash of Distress, Jens made his spear disappear in thin air and summoned his Great Sword and swung it as powerful as he could.

She swung her arm and created a maelstrom of inconsistent gravity, which chaotically twisted time and space. Looking at it, Jens became dizzy and dropped his weapon. Then, the woman swung her arm and released a shock wave of literal ash. It only took less than a second before the ash formed crystallized ash, and fired it at Jens.

Nathan : "BARIA!"

As a reflex, Nathan blessed Jens with a Magical Barrier formed with Yang Magic. Unknown to Jens, Light Shields are one of the best shields in the world of Magic, as they also remove debuffs like dizziness or other negative effects.

Jens slowly regained sight of what he was doing, and threw a spear right towards the skull of Ash, but it passed right through it, as if her body was made of gas.

Emilia : "Don't forget about me!"

Turning around, Ash felt a powerful kick on the right side of her jaw, and was send flying. Emilia appeared behind her, and kicked her as hard as possible. As she landed on her back, she stood up as fast as she could.

Ash : "Not bad. Regulus told me so much about you, Emilia. You truly are as amazing as he told me. But, it's quite sad that I've to deal with you right now."

Hearing this, Emilia is confused. What does Regulus know about Emilia which she doesn't?

Emilia : "Enough talking!"

??? : "I agree!"

Hearing a voice which nobody has heard in days, Puck appears on her right shoulder.

Jens : "P-Puck!"

Ash : "The Great Spirit of Eternally Frozen Lands..! Why are these reunions so amazing, god this is good!"

Puck : "Lia… This woman, I've encountered this lady in the past. The Damsel of Distress. Her power… It's ridiculously powerful."

Lisa : "It is?"

{Ash of Distress the Second. Damsel of Distress. Parents both deceased. Around 20 years old. Former member of ???. Currently Blood Cloud. Follows the Washuu King and Regulus Corneas. Mover 4. Shaker 6. Possible Blaster 7. Classes based on her Semblance. The Semblance of Ash of Distress II creates maelstroms of inconsistent gravity and space time warping, chaotically twisting reality in uncontrolled cone-shaped blasts that severely alters anything in its path. The "blasts" can rip, tear, twist, melt, disintegrate, and cause numerous other effects to organic and inorganic matter within a variable range of five meters. Her Semblance has a Side Effect, Unknown.}

Lisa : "This… Is not good…. It's worse than I thought!"

Ash : "Fucking Thinker. How dare you using your power against me?"

Lisa : "Oh shut up, would you?"

While everyone is prepared to battle, nobody does anything, and instead waits for a moment to start.

Puck : "Nathan, Melissa, how do you know this woman?"

Nathan : "Fuck, few years ago, I met with this woman who was trying to kill Felt, and so I ran away. She knows fucking everything about me, Melissa and Felt."

Ash : "Don't be so dramatic. There's always knowledge to be drawn from a corpse."

Nathan : "You, bitch!"

Puck : "How dare you showing your face in front of my Emily?"

Ash : "Don't act so fucking Noble. You're the most obnoxious individual here in fact. Also, why aren't you entering the Tomb yourself Puck? I think Echidna would love reuniting wi—"

Swinging his tiny cat arms, he created thousands, if not more icicle spears, and dropped them all towards her. But, she was fast enough to cut space with her arms, and created a black hole which warped everything into a dark dimension, and remained unharmed.

Emilia : "What is she talking about Puck?"

Ash : "Don't mind him Emily, he's the biggest Liar. A LIAR! Kyahahahaha!"

Ram : "Ash of Distress, are you working with Roswaal?"

She slowly grabs her wand and starts collecting Wind Mana.

Ash : "Why, of course. The clown is the one who collected Demi-Humans towards the Sanctuary and made the Barrier collapse earlier. Poor Ram, I'm sure your sister would be devastated as well."

Hearing this, Ram opens her eyes more widely and looks at Jens. Jens however, looks at Ash immediately and opens his mouth.

Jens : "What…. You… Remember Rem?"

Ash : "Not everyone is weak, remember? You see, I'm quite immune against Gluttony. I'm both able to remember victims and unable to be forgotten. Truly magnificent!"

Emilia : "I have heard enough villain, Puck!"

Puck : "It was a disgusting reunion, and now! You'll be frozen for eternity!"

Ash : "Kyahahahaha! Give it to me!"

Emilia : "Ice Brand Arts! Icicle Line!"

Emilia swung her arms and created a limited area barrier made of ice particles around Ash of Distress which she used to attack in all directions by transforming the ice particles into weapons.

Ash punched the ground, and created massive, bone like pillars which originated from the ground. They surrounded Emilia and Ash, and made everyone outside of the pillars useless, as they were unable to interfere.

Puck : "~Tsk!"

Yang : "Emilia-Sama!"

Yang activated her gauntlets and fired three bullets towards the Damsel of Distress, Ash II, but the bullets disappeared once they entered the area.

Ash : "You fiend! Witch's Daughter! You pathetic little bug! I don't even understand how you have enough courage to fight against a superior being like me~! The Damsel of Distress II!"

Emilia : "You're right. I am nothing like you. I am not as strong as you, or as mighty as you, but I won't allow you to destroy the lives of innocent civilians!"]

Swinging her arms, she created a sword of Ice. She threw it towards the Damsel of Distress and then created icicles which fell upon the Damsel. Thousands of Ice Spears fell upon her, scratching and tearing her flesh apart.

Puck : "Melt away! You're nothing but trash!"

Emilia : "Al Huma!"

She stomped the ground, and out of the ground, a massive, maybe ten meter tall Ice Spear appeared, she jumped and launched the Ice Spear towards the Damsel of Distress. However, she immediately created a cone of destruction, like that, the spear shattered into a million of small spears.

Ash : "Bluagh~!"

Emilia dashed towards the Damsel of Distress, even though she was hurt, she still kept firing slashes of destruction, which would break Emilia with ease. Because of that, she kept dashing forward, left and right, left and right.

Ash : "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH~!"

Then, she released a magical and powerful scream. This was without doubt, her Trump Card, perhaps a part of her Semblance which she had not shown yet. After the piercing scream pierced through the ears of Emilia, her body was embraced by the feeling of apathy, and like that, she collapsed on the ground.

The ones surrounding fight, had the exact same. They started to collapse. Their clothes, their weapons, everything was too heavy.

Yang : "My…. Gauntlets are so… Heavy."

With the final energy she had left, she said those words and collapsed on the ground. After her, the others followed.

Emilia however, kept standing on her feet, but the feeling of apathy got worse and worse.

Puck : "Come on Lia! Stay strong, it's nothing but a illusion!"

Ash : "Is it though? Why do you keep fighting for a future which isn't guaranteed? You've come all this way, for what? For possible redemption? Truly, kyahahahaha! Adorable! You're so pathetic!"

Puck : "Lia…!"

Emilia : "T-Tch!"

She tried to swing her arms, but nothing worked. She didn't have the energy to lift up her arms, and use magic. No matter how much she tried, she would not be able to defeat that Damsel of Distress.

Puck : "Hm~! Flora Huma!"

However, the tiny cat on Emilia's shoulders clapped his small hands, and released a thick mist. Trying to cut it away with her powers, Ash noticed that her arms and feet were frozen by the mist, even though the cold air, didn't feel that cold. Rather chilling.

Suddenly, Emilia blinked her eyes two times, and the feeling of apathy disappeared. She regained the motivation to fight. She regained the courage to brawl. She regained her reason to believe.

Emilia : "Ice Brand Arts! Icicle Line, Hyaaaaaagh!"

The swift motions of Emilia's hands were unable to follow. She swung her left arm, while her right arm formed a fist. Then, her left arm was pointed to wards the ground, while her right hand was swung to the left.

These motions created multiple, hundred– No, thousand of weapons surrounding Ash in the thick mist. These weapons were different from before though, a cold, very cold blue Mana was leaving the weapons as if it was melting, which it wasn't.

Ash : "Hyagh!"

The Damsel of Distress swung her arm with all the power she has, and made the mist disappear, only to find out that she was surrounded by thousands weapons.

Ash : "Wua–!"

Then, Emilia pointed both arms towards her and screamed,

Emilia : "This is the end villain!"

All the weapons, all the powerful frozen weapons were fired towards the Damsel of Distress, Ash II. An icy axe cut off her left arm, a frozen Great Sword cut off her legs, and five daggers were send towards her breast.

Ash : "Bluaaaagh~!"

Puck : "The grand finale!"

Then, Puck swung his arms towards her, and giant ice pillars embraced by flames were fired towards her spine, who then bursted out of her stomach.

Ash : "…"

Looking at the fight which just happened, Jens stares at Emilia with gratitude and fear. Just now, he realized that Emilia isn't as weak as he remembered. She's strong. She doesn't need protection every time, but that doesn't stop him from following and protecting her.

The bone-like pillars collapse, and the group is able to interfere with the fight. The group rushes towards Ash. First thing which they do, Nathan puts her into a Yang Prison while she remains unconscious.

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Nathan : "Emilia-sama… You were amazing."

Hearing the compliment, she looks at Nathan and smiles at him, while she blushes. A small breeze of wind flows through her hair and she looks at the ground.

Jens walks towards Emilia and puts his hands on her shoulders. Looking into her beautiful amethyst eyes, he says,

Jens : "You dealt with this woman, with only Puck on your side? You're strong Emilia! I am glad that I'm with you now."

"T-That was way too cheesy. Shit, I should've said something else."

His mind is filled with nothing but embarrassment. He blushes and looks at Emilia.

Emilia : "Thank you. We… Need to continue. We need to save the Sanctuary, and protect the barrier."

Melissa : "You're right! What should we do?"

Weiss : "Wouldn't it be better to go straight for the temple, find who she's working with, and let either Emilia or Jens take the trials?"

Ram : "With all the other murderers in this village? I vote against that, we should clean up the village before we interfere with the actual enemy."

Frederica : "Not to be rude, but we must protect the civilians as well. Evacuate them, maybe?"

Hearing this, Nathan suggests something.

Nathan : "We should split up. There are multiple people causing this, I am sure. With us all together, it will take hours before we finally finish."

Lisa : "You're right, to my surprise. Possible thinker? Haha, just kidding. Right, sorry."

With Tattletale spouting out random stuff, she clapped her hands and decided the plan.

Lisa : "We should divide us in three teams, that would be the safest with our amount of people. I'll base the groups on equal strength and relationship level, so there won't be flaws in co-operation. Emilia, you'll lead the group of Weiss, Ram and Frederica. Jens, you'll lead the group of me, Melissa, Yang. Otto, you'll lead the group of Garfiel and Nathan. But Otto, make sure to recruit as many fighters, Trumps, Brutes or whatever classes you'll be able to find—"

Otto : "Understood!"

Jens : "Wait Wait Wait! What are… those classes?"

Lisa : "Right, the Kingdom of Lugnica's government created class in which they classify soldiers, warriors, bandits, whatever. It's very easy! Movers have enhanced mobility. Shakers are able to effect the area. Brutes have enhanced strength or durability. Breakers can shift into another state. Master can control or create minions. Blasters have ranged powers. Thinkers focus on gathering information. Strikers have power based on melee or touch. Changer can alter their form or appearance. Trump can manipulate powers in different kind of cases. Strangers focus on stealth or infiltration."

Hearing this, Jens is confused, but tries to remember it.

Lisa : "Example, I would categorize Yang as a Brute, because of her Semblance. Garfiel as a Striker, me as a Thinker, Emilia probably a blast—"

Nathan : "Whatever Tattletale! We must hurry, did you forget?"

Lisa : "Oh right, sorry! But first, make sure to bring people to safety, and after that. Head to that place!"

She pointed at a temple, far, pretty far in the distant of the Village. It was a mossy, stone temple, with ruins around it. The temple was surrounded by houses and a graveyard.

Lisa : "The Graveyard of Greed."

Jens : "Alright! If anything goes wrong, give us a sign somehow!"

Everyone nodded, and headed to different directions of the city. But before Jens, Tattletale, Yang and Melissa could go to the a side of the village where chaos was going on, Jens heard something behind him.

??? : "J-Jens?"

He turns around and sees a familiar face, one he hasn't seen in possibly a few weeks. Long silver hair, beautiful gold eyes. A standard Lugnician Mage uniform, a short girl, it was—.

Jens : "Angel?!"

Angel : "At last, we reunite."

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