The undercurrents that surface

"So, about that bartender job…"

"I'll tough it out. Licencia needs its guard captain," said Captain Blake. "Been doing all these things for years. If I resign, I'll leave pretty huge boots to fill. Can't have that on my conscience, especially during trying times."

"You should at least ask for a pay raise, though," Claud replied.

The captain straightened his uniform and dusted his shoulders. "Maybe. But hey, I'm not alone in solving the many and varied problems of Licencia. I have two good friends here toughing it out with me, and—"

"Wait, are you referring to us?" Lily asked. "Just so you know, this is kinda a contract thing, you know. We have the absolute right to refuse and everything. If we don't want to do it, we can choose not to do it."

"True, but will you guys not do it?" Captain Blake asked. "That's the more important question."

Claud and Lily glanced at each other.

"You…probably have a point there. For me, anyway, I…well, knowing that I can stop people from dying might be a reason why I'm helping and everything," said Claud, before adding, "but I'm doing it primarily because Caroline asked us too, and the Moon Lords have a contract with the city. I'm not sure if I'll help if I don't have to. I value my life a lot, see?"

"Oh?" The captain looked up and down. "Sure doesn't seem that way to me, but if that's what you say, I won't question you…yet. How about you, Lily?"

Lily hummed. "Well, I'm here to help Claud…and well, I also think one of the reasons why I'm so eager to help is because…I want to help people. Do I need a reason to, really?"

Claud stole a glance at Lily, restraining the urge to pat her head. The acts of her family had a huge impact on her personality, and right now, she saw the opportunity to atone for those actions, even if it wasn't actually her fault. Claud wanted to tell her that she didn't need to do anything, that it wasn't her fault, but this was also a way in which she could move on.

It was possible that Lily would never forgive her family, and by extension, herself. However, if she found a way to alleviate her guilt, even if it was just a temporary measure, Claud would help her with all his might. It wouldn't be much; it would just be literally more work like this, but if it helped, it helped. Claud wasn't going to be too choosy about the specifics.

Besides, from how things were going, it was likely that they would be stuck dealing with more cases of nasty murders, and—

A scream tore the lazy afternoon silence apart.

"Murder!"

"Again?" Claud muttered. "What's going on now?"

Claud tossed up a flare to call for Caroline's help, before the three of them ran to the source of the sound, which was a few streets away. There, in the middle of a road, was a man clutching a knife in his left hand. Another man lay bleeding on the ground below, his body torn into multiple pieces. His right hand was gripping the neck of a woman, and as the three of them burst onto the scene, the murderer's right hand jerked once.

The woman burst apart into a bloody mist.

Claud felt his stomach churn. Red flickered through his eyes, and mana surged through Claud's hands, forming little spikes that shot at the knife-wielding man. The projectiles of mana crossed the distance between him and the murderer a moment later, but instead of the shower of blood that Claud expected to see, the man's knife flickered, leaving behind afterimages that cleaved Claud's attacks into two.

The three of them stopped at this sight.

"Barriers up!" Claud roared, his fingers reaching for the artefacts all around him. The air around him and Lily hummed a moment later, and the two of them drew their swords as one. "I don't know what this guy is, but we have to kill him and get answers later."

"Do it," Captain Blake replied.

"Ah," a raspy voice leaked out from the murderer. "Law enforcement. A fitting sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Claud narrowed his eyes. "What, did the destruction of your little murder nest in the forest render the efforts of you and your organisation pointless? Pathetic."

"Did you send those monsters there? No, probably not. But you know something." The rasp turned into a hiss, and the man kicked aside the corpse at his feet. Blue light crept up his arms a second later, and the murderer lowered his stance. "And I don't like it when people know something. Therefore…"

He vanished.

"Die."

Claud felt the hairs on his neck tingle, and a terrific force blasted him forwards as the man somehow reappeared behind him and landed a casual punch at his back. The numerous barriers had taken the hit easily, but—

Activating Flight, Claud arrested his fall and flipped around. Before the man had a chance to react to that sight, Claud activated one of his less-used skills, Binding Order, and the murderer stiffened up.

Lily's blade turned into a blur a moment later, as she exploited the massive opening Binding Order had forced onto the murderer. Blood bloomed madly a second later as she severed the limbs of the murderer, leaving behind an intact torso and head.

The murderer screamed madly two seconds later as Binding Order wore off, but it was too late. Even if he had something like a short-range teleportation skill, the price for his carelessness had been one too dear.

He had been crippled, literally.

"Claud!" Lily rushed over to him a moment later. "Are you alright? Do you need help? I'm so sorry! I—"

"Calm down, Lily. I didn't see that coming either. It's good that your training took over when it did," said Claud. "I'm just winded. There's no way he can break through so many barriers."

He looked at Lily and let out a sigh of relief. "It's good that you're safe."

"Mm." Lily looked at him, worried. Claud patted her head, before turning his attention to Captain Blake, who was already slapping on some sealing bandages or whatever they called them nowadays. The man was screaming madly, but Claud felt something…artificial in his feeble cries.

He reached out a hand and stopped Lily from coming over.

"Claud?"

"Captain Blake! Run!"

The captain froze as he heard those shouts, and then flung himself backwards. At the same time, Claud threw a Dome Shield artefact at the abruptly silent murderer, projecting a thick dome around the maimed and crippled man.

The murderer stopped screaming and stared at Claud, as the Dome Shield surrounded on his bloody frame. "You saw through it, then."

Blue lines rippled into view around the murderer, and Claud felt his heart tense up. He had seen this before, when the Shadow of Grandis tried to overload his mana circuits. Doing so would release all the mana stored in the body and convert it into an explosive force. Clearly, the murderer had intended to blow himself up once Claud and Lily drew closer, when Captain Blake was done patching him up.

"Yeah. You looked like a madman. A zealot. Someone willing to die for his beliefs." Claud took a few steps forward, and then pulled Captain Blake away from the murderer. "Killing yourself doesn't seem all that hard, in comparison."

"Death is not the end," said the man. "Not for me, at any rate."

"I didn't think any of the Coloured Gods dealt with resurrection," Claud replied. "You sound very deluded there."

"Those false gods can't resurrect people," said the man, "but the Moons can. Fools. You could have died normally, but I suppose you want to do things the hard way."

Blood dribbled out of his body as he began to float. Mumbling something Claud couldn't make out, blue light flowed out of his broken, bloody form, and within seconds, a chilling chant entered Claud's ears. The first few words were indecipherable, but—

Claud felt his stomach flip as the limbs of the murderer began to float, connecting themselves to the severed stumps of the man's body. "This world extols the false light of usurpers. Sealed are the true rulers. O Moons, I, your devoted, dedicate this transient life to your servants' descent."

The mana surging around the man began to shine. Azure gave way to red and yellow, and a pressure that Claud had felt from Count Nightfall began to press down on him.

"Ritual magic." Claud stared at the glowing man, his nerves numb and his muscles feeble. The man before him, someone who had just murdered two innocents, could somehow call upon the might of the Moons. Claud didn't understand why, or how, but this wasn't the time to think superfluous things.

His mind, however, was blank, filled by the chanting of the murderer alone.

"…O Moons, your will is mine. May your hatred burn. May your light cleanse the unworthy. May your Bearers stand tall—urgh!"

The raging, tri-coloured light abruptly stilled, and the Dome Shield fell apart. An arrow, tinted with a sharp blue hue, had torn through the shield and the man's throat.

"…Blake, the two of you, leave the body," Caroline's voice echoed through the street. "There's something more important than what's going on here now."

Her firm voice brooked no delay.