Chapter 765: The Owl & The Demon

At a distance, Sidus staggered to his feet and broke into a wide, maddened smile. “It’s you. Stryg.”

Titania glanced at the monster who called himself Sidus, then at Noct, who was on his hands and feet, bleeding from a mortal stab wound in his abdomen. Except, he didn’t look like Noct. Gone were the rulus features. In its wake was a man who looked eerily similar to the monster.

“...Noct? Is that you?” Titania asked with hesitation.

Adina and the other rulus warriors silently shared the same question as they stared at him with bewildered looks.

“Yeah, it’s me, kid,” Noct muttered between panted breaths.

“Why did you hide your true form, little brother?” Sidus asked, beaming with excitement. “It really is you, isn’t it? Stryg.”

“How do you know that name?” Noct wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. The dark ichor seeping from his gut had stopped, though the wound hadn’t closed itself.

“Oh, I forget. We haven’t officially met.” Sidus bowed in a wide flourish, “I am Sidus, son of Death. Though most who know of me simply refer to me as Zero.”

“Zero…?” Noct furrowed his brow.

“It is a name as much as it is a rank,” Sidus said.

“You’re with those assassins that attacked us in Hollow Shade.”

“Indeed, though if I had been there, none of you would be alive. Fortunately, I was not. You see, the master of my order has become interested in you. Suffice to say, they would like to arrange a meeting. Unfortunately, you disappeared a few years back and your sightings have been sparse. But imagine my luck to find you here of all places. I would go as far as to call it serendipitous.”

“You talk too much,” Noct spat a mouthful of blood.

“You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been surrounded by these animals for so long. I haven’t had a conversation with a real person in months.”

Noct glanced at Lena’s body, her lifeless eyes glazed over. Her neck was bent at an unnatural angle. “Animals…? What did you do with the rest of the caravan?”

“Oh, they won’t bother us, I took care of it. Now, let us leave this place with Titania and—” Sidus stopped mid-sentence and tilted his head to the side. “Why are you with the girl, little brother?”

Noct met Titania’s gaze. Her tear-stained face was filled with fear and uncertainty. In that moment, Noct realized she didn’t know if she could trust him.

“She broke me out of a cage, even when I told her to leave me be,” Noct scoffed and shook his head, though he could not hide the small curl of his lips. “That’s the kind of kid she is. And that’s why I’m never letting you get near her.”

Titania sucked in a shaky breath and smiled weakly.

“Please, you’re hardly in any condition to stop me,” Sidus chuckled. “Actually, why aren’t you healing? I know you’re still quite young, but the reports I’ve read about your physical condition state that you have developed a modicum of regenerative abilities. Unless—” Sidus narrowed his eyes. “Wait. It was you, wasn’t it? The Astral Light a few days ago. I thought Father had decided to intervene, but it was you.”

“Astral Light,” Adina muttered to herself. Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. She stared at Noct, her expression a mixture of relief and awe.

“To think, a child ignited the Astral Light.” Sidus ran a hand across his face and laughed, “I mean, I heard the stories of what happened during the siege of Hollow Shade, but still, I wasn’t sure I believed it. And now here you are, your body broken after daring to touch a power you could never possibly hope to control.”

“Noct, what is he talking about?” Titania asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Noct said.

“Oh, I think it very much does.” Sidus grinned. “I’m sure the three of us have much to talk about. Come. I’m sure we can find a half-decent bottle of wine somewhere in these wagons. I’ll heal your wounds while we drink and talk.”

With a grimace, Noct pushed himself to his feet. “As I said. I’m never letting you get near her.”

Sidus’ grin faded as his eyes hardened. “Even if you were whole, you would not stand a chance, little brother. What makes you think you have the right to challenge me now?”

“I am the Sword of Veres and the bane of our enemies.” Noct picked up his sword from the bloodstained sand, the scarlet blade gleaming with inner hunger. “Be it Monster or Man, here I stand.” He stepped in front of Titania and took a defensive stance. “And I shall not falter.”

“Very well, I’ll play along.” Sidus smirked and spread his arms wide open. A white mist wrapped around him before solidifying into a series of opaque crystalline longswords that hovered behind him like a cloak.

“Manifestation magic,” Noct noted with a frown. He knew little of the True White spellform, only that dragons had used it to repair the section of the Shade Wall that had been destroyed by the dragonbanes. He had never seen it used like this.

“I hear you’re a prime mage of great potential. There’s never been a prime mage titan before.” Sidus raised his hand as if he were about to conduct an ensemble of minstrels. “Do try your best.” He snapped his fingers and the swords flew at Noct from every direction in a whirlwind of crystalline steel.

Krikolm flashed in a frenzy of red as Noct parried the ten blades as they came from above and below. His eyes moved furiously as he struggled to keep up with the attacks. A sword swung past him and went straight for one of the rulus warriors. Noct leapt and struck the white sword away. He fell in a roll and jumped back to his feet with a wince. The wound in his stomach had ripped open.

“I was trying to help you,” Sidus clicked his tongue. “That sword of yours grows more powerful with blood, yes? But it doesn’t seem to be drawing upon your own blood. Let me kill these owl-worshipping rats for you. I’m sure their blood will suffice.”

“Yours will be enough,” Noct growled.

“Is that so? Show me.” Sidus flicked his wrist and the swords followed.

Noct parried one sword, then another. Each blade came at him from what seemed an opening, but he would shift ever so slightly, evading the strike altogether. Krikolm met a blade with just enough strength to glance the blow away, before moving on to the next, conserving energy.

No, he wasn’t conserving energy, Sidus realized. He was gathering it. With each strike, Krikolm grew faster. Wind swirled around Noct, until it was a storm of energy.

“What is this?” Sidus whispered. This wasn’t elemental or chromatic magic. It was pure lifeforce, the life energy of all living things. A titan relied on the power in their blood, the magic of the gods. Not this. Never this.

Noct sprinted forward in a sudden burst, the wind howling in his path. He was upon Sidus, Krikom swinging down at his head. A tower shield of white manifested above Sidus and met Krikolm’s strike in a spark of magic and storm. The scarlet blade sank into the shield, splinters forming through the crystalline lattice. But the blade slowed before it could cut through.

Sidus smiled. “Is that all you have?”

Spikes sprouted from the shield and stabbed at Noct. He kicked off the shield before they could run him through, though a few still managed to pierce his flesh. He stumbled back a few steps, coughing up blood.

Sidus dissipated the shield in front of him back into mist with a mere thought. “Where is your magic, Stryg? Or have the wounds left by the Astral Light left you so weak you cannot even summon the smallest of spells? I thought Father’s new favorite would be more capable than this.”

Noct swallowed a grimace and straightened his back. “I don’t need magic to kill you.”

“And you think your sword will suffice? Look at you. You can hardly stand. Put aside your pride and yield before you do something you regret.”

Noct stared at his hands. He wasn’t sure if his hands were shaking or if his blurred vision was worse than he thought. He could hardly draw breath and each time he did, he could feel the pain burning inside his chest. His lungs were punctured and blood was slowly filling them. He was losing too much blood. His body wasn’t healing fast enough, if at all. Someone was calling his name, it sounded faint, as if from far away. He looked back to find Titania screaming at him, eyes red with tears.

“Run!” she screamed, though he could hardly hear it.

Noct closed his eyes and imagined that night at the cliff on Widow’s Crag. He thought of the brother who had stepped in the way of his death and taken the mortal wound instead.

“...I am the Shield of my friend.” Stryg opened his eyes and rushed at Sidus, Krikolm brandished high.

“No!” Titania cried out.

Sidus sighed and raised his swords. The ten blades crossed against the lone red blade and locked it in place. Without giving up his momentum, Stryg released the hilt and pushed forward. Sidus instinctively conjured armour over his entire body.

Stryg drew a dagger from his belt, the hilt was too long for a dagger, but the blade was short and jagged, the edge broken. He flipped it in a reverse grip and stabbed down into Sidus’ chest. The latter caught his wrist with unnatural speed.

“A broken dagger? Is that the best you can manage?” Sidus said in disappointment.

“It’s the sword of my true brother and it is Nameless,” Stryg hissed. A ghostly silver-blue haze shot out from the broken blade and pierced through the crystalline armour straight to the heart, though it left no mark on the conjured steel.

Sidus gasped and stumbled back with a twisted expression of pain and confusion. His armor fell apart where Nameless struck, revealing a silver scar over his heart. “W-What did you do?” he wheezed and clawed at his chest.

Without missing a beat, Stryg snatched Krikolm from above as the crystalline swords fell apart and slashed Sidus’ throat in a clean, quick swipe.

“Agh—” Sidus clutched his throat, blood pouring out between his fingers.

“Your blood is enough.” Stryg raised Krikolm, its blade slick with dark ichor.

Sidus snarled with indignation. “Enough!” he roared in a hoarse, garbled voice. White magic curled around the wound and began to seal his neck. Sidus threw his hand to the sky and a cloud of mist formed above them. A hundred arrows condensed from the mist and rained down at a single point. Stryg stared up at his impending doom with a grim countenance, his body too exhausted to move.

A dome of sand abruptly emerged above Stryg. It shifted like water and stretched outward like roots, meeting the rain of arrows mid-flight. The arrows ripped through the sand, yet more sand came to meet it until every arrow was swallowed whole. The sand struggled to keep its shape and fell apart in a splash of dust all around them.

“You…” Sidus growled and turned to the rulus warriors. “You dare interfere?”

Adina stood, sand swirling around her hands. “We are rulus. Children of the desert. Faithful servants of the Owls. And we will not stand by as you murder one of the divine, demon.”

“Then you will die,” Sidus smiled maliciously.

“Then I will meet Death with pride and my head held high. Sisters! Brothers! Protect the Owl!” Adina charged forward and the others followed, a battle cry on their lips.

“Vermin.” Sidus scowled and conjured a new set of swords

The rulus warriors swarmed him, clashing against the crystalline blades with an unshakable fervor. Even as a white blade found its target and struck a rulus down, another rulus leaped into the fray to take her place.

Adina hurled a torrent of flame at Sidus. He threw his arms back as white armour grew around him. Adina glanced at Stryg, “I cannot hold him for long. Go!”

Stryg gave a grateful nod, then limped over to Titania.

“Noct, you’re bleeding.” Titania bit her lip.

“Hold on.”

“What are you—? Ah!”

Stryg threw her over his shoulder and forced himself to run even as his body cried out in pain. He found one of the watering holes. He could see the underground river running through the crevasse. “Take a deep breath, kid.”

Titania sucked in as much air as she could and closed her eyes tight. Stryg leapt into the crevasse and the river took them both.