Chapter 40

"Alright, everyone ready?" Aranea asks, placing her hand on the map in front of them.

The group had temporarily taken over the dining table, using it as a meeting area. "We'll go over the current plan one last time."

"Yeah, we are." Ryder says, nerves seeming to spike a bit more than he would've liked as he gazes down at the map of the area.

It was decently drawn, and seemed to show most, if not all, details of the current area.

"Right, then let's begin." Aranea points to what looks like a giant hole marked in the ground, or perhaps it was a pit? "This is the Pit of Absolution… or what remains of it at this point, most of it has been covered by a rather large tree created by some form of magic."

"Creation." Demea chimes in, her face a little more serious than normal. "The person we're going to be fighting against drank from what I can only describe as pure mana, pooled from beyond the cosmos… this gave her the power to create one ultimate spell from beyond the normal understanding of magic."

"Sounds like some pretty heavy stuff then." Teach replies, crossing his arms as he stares down at the map. "I take it that tree is heavily guarded then?"

"Not by your average enemies." Aranea replies, quickly pulling out another parchment and putting it on the table.

On the parchment was a curious drawing of what seemed to be holy looking soldiers, knights, and all sorts of warriors.

They were adorned with white armor with gold trimming, their weapons seemed rather ornate in nature as well.

"This is the legion that followed Saint Lucent on her journey, they were the best of the best in Resovult at their time, blessed by the new God of Light; Cecil."

"Wait, how are they alive?" Alice asks, clearly caught off guard. "I knew some of these people, I watched them march to their deaths…"

"By the Lord's Rite." Laurence calmly replies. "Each Lord chooses what they can do with their Rite. Since Lucent can't currently fight on her own, she instead brought back those she knew would fight on her behalf."

"She brought the dead back to life…" Alice mutters, looking away now.

"No, not fully." Teach cuts in, narrowing his eyes a bit. "As someone who used a Rite it's not that simple, she'd be able to raise the bodies with their memories but it's impossible to call a soul back without it being willing."

"Not without Dark Magic that is." Laurence chimes in once more. "Which brings us to our current dilemma… the necromancer assisting her."

"Ah, don't worry about that, you all can focus on just getting to Lucent." Yuria finally comments, her usual smile on her face. "I've already got that part taken care of, so there's no need to divert our forces thinner than they already are."

"You already got it taken care of?" Aranea asks worryingly, not liking that mischievous smile that never leaves her face.

"Yup, that's why I didn't find you guys sooner, I had my own issues to take care of." Yuria calmly states, that smile never leaving her face. "That was just one of them."

"Alright then… well in that case that means we can kill the enemies and not have to worry about them reviving, our big problem now will be navigating the dungeon and fighting the boss." Aranea continues, pulling out another two pieces of parchment now. "First of all, we don't know how much the dungeon has changed so this map here might be useless." she says as she tosses the map on the table. "Secondly, if you find a room that looks to be the pit, do not enter on your own, if you do you'll be fighting Lucent's personal guard on your own."

With this Aranea tosses the last parchment on the table, revealing a new figure carefully painted on it.

The figure looked vastly different from the rest of the soldiers, almost jarringly so.

Donning a dark silver armor that was heavily engraved with many different symbols, his helmet looked simple but effective with the only ornate detail being antlers mounted to it.

His weapon on the other hand was something terrifying, a giant two headed hammer that looked to be bigger than the man himself.

It appeared to be the same material as his armor, yet bore none of the symbols… in fact it looked closer to a slab of metal that'd just been molded into a rectangular shape.

If he could really lift it without the pole attached to it breaking then they'd certainly be in for a world of trouble.

"This is Tavish Durmont, Lucent's personal guard and a beast of a man who was unstoppable last we fought." Aranea begins, seeming to recall the bad memories from the beta days as she shook her head a bit. "There was no one who could beat him, and for good reason! His hammer is strong enough to break through anything that is not a great shield or some kind of magic armor."

"So what are we supposed to do then? Just dance around him and hope he doesn't touch us?!" Oto yells out, now seeing the entire situation as pointless. "For gods sake, what are we supposed to do against something that can one shot us?!"

"Oto." Feros' calming voice comes from his right, making the rash assassin freeze up.

With a reluctant sigh Oto looks away, waiting for Aranea to continue now.

"Well, that's only if we don't send in people we know could probably take the hits." She looks around the table. "Those being, Teach, Regis, Ryder… and Alice." She places four tokens on the map now, each seeming to represent one of them. "Additionally Melia will be tagging along, she may not be able to fight but her support skills will come in handy." with that a fifth token is placed down in the center of the group.

"Me?!" Melia practically shouts, terrified now. "I could die in a single hit there!"

"Yes, but that's why Regis will be acting as your guard." Aranea replies, motioning to Regis in the process. "She's the one who can most easily defend you and fight at the same time so no need to worry."

"That's still…" Melia begins, looking at Regis nervously before relenting. "...I'll go."

"Good, then that just leaves the rest of us, we'll split off into our own group of five and work on clearing out the dungeon-" Aranea continued the explanation though Melia quickly and quietly left the room, not seeming to be noticed by anyone aside from Ryder.

Curious and slightly concerned for her, he too quietly leaves the meeting, following behind her.

She had moved surprisingly quickly up the stairs and into the private study, hoping to find some peace and quiet only to be surprised upon hearing Ryder.

"Melia, are you alright?" his calm and surprisingly soothing voice came from behind her, it held nothing but concern.

Yet something about that concern sickened her to her core.

What was it exactly?

It wasn't anything to do with Ryder… no, it was something else.

Melia remained quiet before shaking her head. "No, I'm not alright." she honestly admits to him, yet refusing to look his way. "I'm really not, not with everything playing out the way it is." Her voice is shaky and filled to the brim with fear. "I never wanted this, any of this! I never wanted to be stuck in this kind of situation!" Without warning she falls to her knees, tears flowing forth as the emotions overwhelm her.

Quietly Ryder sits beside her, not really knowing what to say as her sobs fill his mind.

God, what would he say in this situation? He was always so good at handling these kinds of things.

[If I may, perhaps you should just speak from the heart? At least, that's what he used to do.]

Astaroth's voice rings through Ryder's mind, earning a solemn smile from him.

"You know, I never really stopped to think about how everyone else was feeling this entire time." Ryder softly admits, a wave of guilt and embarrassment rushing through him. "This entire time I've just been going from one encounter to another, losing myself in this strange dream-like world, trying to make sense of… well… anything really." He sighs a bit, looking down at the old floorboards now. "Even now I still find it hard to believe any of this is really happening… losing so many people so quickly… honestly I feel like if I stop moving for even a second everything will come catching up with me, that's always what seems to happen." there was a lingering pain in his voice now, dozens of memories racing to mind.

Melia sniffles a bit, quietly trying to gain enough composure to speak, yet still unable to look at Ryder. "You too?" her voice was quiet, but surprised and curious.

Ryder lets out a bittersweet and dry laugh, now seeming to barely be holding everything together. "Oh yeah, even now I'm still running, afraid of what'll happen when it all finally comes tumbling down." tears sting the corners of his eyes, threatening to escape now. "Some champion I am, right?"

"What did you come here for?" Melia asks, now looking at Ryder, shocked to see the usual facade of carefree nature has fallen.

"My brother he-" Ryder gets caught on his words for a moment, not finding the right words to say. "-he passed a little bit ago and I… I don't know, I guess I had hoped this would finally bring me some closure, to see his final piece of work with my own two eyes." Silently he wiped away a tear before continuing. "What about you?"

"My fiance." she replies with her own melancholic tone, yet a fondness hiding in it. "We'd known each other since we were kids, grew up liking the same things and had even planned on playing this when it launched… but I guess fate had other plans." her voice breaks a bit, the emotions becoming more sorrowful as she continues. "He passed away two years ago, he was diagnosed with Thelman's Disease and instead of trying any of the risky operations he just wanted to spend what time he had left with me…"

"Then, you're here for the same reason?" Ryder asks, now looking over to her.

With a nod and sad sigh she responds. "Yeah, I came here hoping for some kind of closure… but now I've gotten way in over my head and everything's come crashing down around me." she lets out one more shaky sigh. "I just… I never wanted any of this, but I can't stop now."

"Yes you can." Ryder replies, placing a hand on her shoulder now. "You don't have to do all this, you don't."

"What about you and everyone else then?! Am I supposed to just sit around and let you march to your deaths?!" Melia practically yells out, a range of emotions flowing through her now.

Anger, sorrow, reluctance, all merging like a storm in her heart.

"Yes, because we won't be marching to our death." Ryder says, trying to calm her down. "Everyone will be fine, especially with people like Regis and Teach assisting us."

"But-"

"But nothing." Ryder stares her dead in the eyes, a brief glimpse of Lily flashing through his mind. "Do not force yourself into a position you do not want to be in, just focus on surviving and keeping yourself happy."

Before Melia can respond another voice comes from the doorway, where a very surprised and apologetic Oto can be seen standing. "Sorry, Ryder, You're needed for the meeting again…"

"Right…" he sighs before looking back at Melia. "Seriously, think over what I told you." With that he stands up, moving to Oto and following him back downstairs, leaving Melia all alone now with her thoughts running rampant.

[Kind of hypocritical to tell her that when you're in similar situations, is it not?]

[You wouldn't listen to your own advice after all.]

Astaroth speaks to Ryder, trying to understand his actions.

"You're right, but she has a choice… as the one with this power I don't, they need me to push through." he silently replies, his resolve shaken but still standing.

"Besides-"

[You're used to this.]