Rescued

My dialogue is repetitive…

~~~~

People rushed around the control room.

"Is team Gamma in check?"

Innumerable lights flickered.

"Where are the papers that I asked for an hour ago!?"

As the people blurred around him all he could focus on was one thing and one thing only.

"Is the King's team unreachable?"

He was old, an ancient fossil that should have died long ago, but due to his greed taking the deal from the one he shouldn't have now all he could do was watch and observe.

"Send reinforcements…"

Eyes shifted onto him.

"...Of course."

Answered the man.

There were many regrets that he couldn't keep in the past and now he is held by chains that follow him forever. All he asked now was to be let free and be relieved of his role.

'Arthur my old friend, where did everything go wrong?'

*

*

*

'Where did this strength come from!?'

My head felt like it was melting from the sheer amount of stress placed upon it.

"[Betrayal]"

Jack's voice rang around me.

A shadow appeared in front of me about to stab me but my instinct told me otherwise.

Going against my better logic, I block behind my back where an icy cold spot layed where I would be hit.

-TING!

'Was he not even trying!?'

My teeth clenched as Jack toyed with me.

At times he even slid his fingers across his wound and licked his own blood, writhing in pure bliss (?).

'Creepy…'

He's one of the more… messed up ones I've faced.

Even though I've met some people like this in the past I still couldn't get used to them.

It was disgusting, like they were animals that gained human intelligence. But I have no right to speak, I've done despicable acts against people too after all.

-TING!

The heavy iron sweeped me across the destroyed concrete.

-Skid!

He held his body low and laughed out loud. Like a crazed beast resembling the unknown Suspect (perhaps even worse); he attacked me with such ferocity and speed that I had no time to stop and breath for even a moment.

'One moment…'

All I needed was one moment.

A plan was formulated but I needed time… a precious resource I didn't have.

I ran through the mist trying to get Jack off my trail but like a hound he relentlessly chased me.

'Right behind me…!'

A thin line on my back felt so cold it almost felt like I was being tortured.

-TING!

"How do you do that I wonder?"

I watched Jack's once attractive face contort even more as I got flung away from him.

Jack held his sword on the ground, dragging it around. The loud screeching sound of metal clashing with concrete gave a menacing atmosphere.

'I should have been out of this mist by now…'

I tried looking at my surroundings only for another cold line to interrupt my thoughts.

'An upwards swing'

-TING!

My left arm rose as my guard broke down.

Trying to salvage the situation, I quickly turned my knife into a reverse grip and pressed the button as it extended downwards at Jack's next swing.

-SHIK!

Pain came from my left side and my katana blocked his sword albeit barely.

Using my momentary lapse, Jack held my head and slammed me to the ground, making a small crater to the concrete, making me lose my katana.

-BOOM!

"Cough!"

Air left my lungs but my body automatically stabbed my knife into Jack's shoulder.

The pain just made him stronger, he held my head in a vice-like grip as if trying to crush my head with sheer force of strength.

"How does this feel? Does it make you want to die??"

His eyes vibrated and his face was flushed with a hint of drool coming out his smile at the edges of his mouth.

I didn't reply and instead tried prying the hand off of my face.

"No, no no… That's not what a 'good boy' should do, should he??"

'What… is this grip!?'

Veins popped on my arms but his hand still didn't let go.

For a moment I saw Jack look up and unable to turn my head I couldn't see what had captured his attention.

"It seems you have been caught in quite the situation haven't you, Takahiro?"

'That voice…!'

Has it been a few minutes already?

Jack got up and my head followed along.

"If it isn't my final prize for the day, how are you King of Britain?"

Arthur held Excalibur in a confidant pose, his armor still had blood and the sword wound however.

"I think I'm fine, my former companion, but I will ask you to release my informant for me."

He reached out his left hand, like he was expecting Jack to follow his words.

"...You always had that attitude, it reminds me of your father."

Arthur's slight amicable smile turned quickly into a frown.

"What do you know of my father?"

"Who knows~ Who knows~"

Suddenly the expressions on the two switched with each other, Jack now dawning a slight grin at his mischief and Arthur with a deadly cut-throat atmosphere.

'Is this what it feels to be a side-character in a story?'

I couldn't help but wonder. Sometimes my powerlessness (while not obvious) had led me down some situations that made me feel this way at times.

Using the conversation in which Jack was distracted, I swiftly brought out the gun at the side of my waist and prepared to shoot it at Jack.

'Let's test this out…'

I shifted my body to produce Aiki to manipulate and rapidly put the energy into my bullet already in the chamber. Jack felt the threat and threw me away as far as possible.

-Click.

-BOOOMMM!!!

My hands got thrown back from the sheer force of the blast along with my body hitting the ground but I was too entranced at what happened after.

"Oh wow…"

I let out, I looked at the massive hole in the sky I made.

My One Shot Hand Cannon, while powerful, was a pain to use.

The design was so that it would (as the name stated) one shot anything. It only had one bullet and required a quick flow of Aiki to get the desired effect I wanted but the purchase was worth it.

"Where did you get this dangerous weapon, might I wonder?"

For the first time, I saw Jack's face clearly from the fog.

It began to rapidly melt into a hideous face that resembled someone's worst nightmares.

'Was the mist hiding his identity?'

I gazed at Arthur's reaction with his eyebrows raised. It was clear he was also as surprised as I was.

"How do you like my appearance? Frightening? I could be the wet-dreams of a child in their sleep~"

Jack's mouth contorted into what seemed to be a smile.

"Hah, but with my plan ruined I shall leave for today. My grande finale should not end like this and with my prize here even more so."

Jack sighed in discontent.

"I shall see you later gentlemen."

Mist formed a vortex around him, Arthur sliced through the pillar of fog but came out empty.

I got up from the ground, patting my body from the dust and debris stuck on my body.

The mist naturally dispersed in just a few moments, as if it never had existed in the first place.

-Ting…

On the ground was my knife, left behind by Jack.

"Sir!"

Charlie cheerfully called out to Arthur, waving his hand in the air. I almost rubbed my eyes to see if flowers were actually complimenting his background image.

But at a closer look…

'They are messed up…'

Jogging towards us were the other two Knights from before, Charlie and Fidelis.

Charlie had his armor torn and wounds that seemed almost life-threatening. I could see parts of his ribs and there were some large pieces of his flesh missing in the shapes of bite marks.

Fidelis on the other hand had many dark bruises and most likely accumulated a large amount of internal damage I couldn't see. His open wounds however, were on par with Charlie showing his amount of suffering in the battle before.

'What kind of wild beast did they fight?'

"Sir, did you happen to see Dark Mary? She escaped after a pillar of fog suddenly encapsulated her, we almost killed her too…"

The aura of a puppy couldn't be unseen from Charlie after I witnessed that it had transpired.

"No, Mary did not come our way. Jack also escaped, this was a large loss on our part."

Opening one of my pouches I took out two of my healing syringes and tossed them to Fideis and Charlie.

Their jovial talk suddenly turned serious, as their eyes shifted at my location I wondered as to why I got so much hostility.

"What even is this?"

Charlie fiddled with the syringe, the liquid had its bubbles moving up and down.

"It contains a healing serum made by one of my 'teachers', it helps you rapidly recover and Arthur is shown proof of that."

I looked at Arthur.

"Hmm…"

He seemed skeptical of its actual usage even though I told him the truth.

"Use it." Arthur said.

Hearing from their leader, they punctured through their skin and let the liquid into their bloodstream without a second thought.

'They trust him so much…'

I thought, admiring their loyalty to Arthur.

I looked up into the sky full of unique colors. It was like a melting pot of nature's vibrant and iridescent colors, but even then I couldn't help but feel a bit left out from the three Knights in front of me.

"Hmm…"

'The sky is beautiful.'

*

*

*

"The sky is ever present, like a fetus in its mother's womb; the sky is the same for people outside."

Jack said, fascinated with the evening sky.

Both Jack and Mary made their way through the alleyways and dark corners of London to their headquarters situated in a hidden location.

Mary kept silent at Jack's incoherent mumbles and strange descriptions, she knew better than to cut off a madman in his thoughts, Jack especially.

They were both injured and gave off heavy bloody smells of metal, their clothes (Jack being better) had cuts and gashes, they were going to need new clothes soon.

"Hmm… Mary, what do you think of Arthur?"

Jack suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Arthur? I think he's strong…"

"You have no artistic sense, more, give me more of a description on what you think of him." Jack lightly reprimanded.

"..."

"...He seemed like a hero out of a fairytale, like he could do anything…"

"Hmm…"

Jack swayed his head, thinking about something.

"I got the theme now…"

He said quietly to himself, excited about his new idea.

They came to a stop in some random alley, nothing worth of note was in its surroundings. It was always the same dark and dreary atmosphere along with the rays of light coming from above.

"Open it."

Jack commanded Mary.

"...Yes…"

Coming and kneeling onto the ground, Mary grabbed the manhole cover and opened it with ease.

-Woosh!

Jack jumped down and so did Mary before closing the cover again.

-Drip

-Drip

Water dripped from the ceiling.

It was as if the creepy and dark atmosphere from before had upgraded by a level as the surroundings were even more darker than before.

The duo walked through the labyrinth that was the British sewers before they found themselves in front of a peculiar wall.

It was worn down considerably like the other walls surrounding it but there was a small shiny sheen in a small corner that couldn't be seen unless the wall was carefully inspected.

-Click.

A small clicking sound was heard before the wall started opening inward like a door.

"Hmm~"

Walking into the room, there was no one in sight.

-Click!

Flicking on the lights, the entire room was coated in a layer of dust showing the rooms' usage and low maintenance.

Jack's body started to slowly secret a mist in the opening of his pants near his shoes, the mist quickly enveloped the room before it disappeared.

Now the room was shiny and clean, no dust in sight.

Jack made his way to the desk at the end of the room, upon sitting down he grabbed an old fashioned phone, one with a wire and a physical dial.

-Beeepp!

The phone made a long 'beep' noise.

-Krrr!

Jack twisted the plastic hole all the way over to a particular symbol, past the numbers and '#' symbol.

-Click.

"Let the final act begin."

Jack said, a twisted smile on his face.

~~~~

The final part of this arc is here. Not sure if this is a good pacing or not with the arc thus far, but I think it's good.

I also foreshadowed quite heavily that Lancelot was Jack.

For example, LANCE was spelled out in one of the chapters by using the first letters in paragraphs that Jack was monologuing in, Lancelot was the only one out of all the Knights to use the name that the Knight was based off of, etc…

Anyways hope this chapter was good, also this chapter should have been out yesterday but I had some work to do so I couldn't.

(Also, Webnovel finally added deleting books onto their website, like wtf this should have been out when the website was made...)

Peace~