WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 47

Empress Hilda, her three husbands, and an army of what appeared to be several thousand strong stood behind the four of us.

The empress was decked in dazzling silver armor. Gleaming steel shone brightly in the sunlight, inlaid with golden designs that swirled around it. The carapace-shaped chestplate protected most of her chest and upper back. Meanwhile, pauldrons made of overlapping steel, elbow armor, and gauntlets protected her shoulders and arms. Two leaf-shaped metal plates sat on either side of her hips, offering some small protection, and silver greaves protected her shins. In her right hand was a curved sabre with numerous Runes etched into the blade.

While nowhere near as impressive as her custom-made armor, her husbands all looked powerful. Rainer and Dante wore the steel armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist commander. Valence had donned the golden armor of the Imperial Royal Guard general.

All around them were thousands of Spiritualists from both the Nevarian Spiritualists and Imperial Royal Guard. They were attacking the Demon Beasts attempting to enter through the north gate. I turned my head and watched as several Spiritualists moved east and west to intercept the Demon Beasts attempting to reach the other gates.

“Mother?” Kari said.

Empress Hilda looked at the slain Acromantula, then glanced at her daughter and smiled. “You have become incredibly strong, Kari. I am so proud of you. Please leave dealing with that other Demon Beast to us.”

“Um…” Kari didn’t look like she knew what to say.

“We’ll leave things here to you then,” I said. “Actually, there is something the four of us should be doing.”

I could tell that Empress Hilda was confused, but the Acromantula was charging toward us and there was no time to argue. She didn’t ponder long before giving us a decisive nod.

“Then you do what you must. We shall hold the line here,” Empress Hilda proclaimed as though it was already done.

“Thank you.” I glanced at the three girls. “Come on. We need to hurry if we want to stop these Demon Beasts from coming anymore.”

The girls were obviously confused, but it was only for a moment before they seemed to understand what I was talking about. They nodded at me as determination flashed in their eyes. Now that they understood, the four of us took off back into the city.

Many Demon Beasts were still invading Nevaria. Just because the Nevarian Spiritualists and Imperial Royal Guards had arrived didn’t mean the problem had been resolved. Even now, humans were fighting against monsters, attacking in groups as they did what they could to protect the civilians. Spiritual Techniques were flying all over the place. Fire and lightning and wind slammed into Demon Beasts, tearing them apart. Walls of earth rose from the ground and offered protection. I could see someone with a water affinity healing the injured as he was protected in turn by a group of Spiritualists. Even the mercenary companies had come to lend a hand. This was, after all, their home too.

Sadly, it wasn’t as if our forces were decimating the Demon Beast. Several Nevarian Spiritualists were beset upon by a pack of Dire Wolves and devoured. A young woman was lifted off the ground by a Silverback and her arms were ripped off. Everywhere I looked, someone was being brutally slaughtered.

We did our best to ignore the gruesome scenes replaying over and over as we kept moving.

“Eryk, that thing we have to do,” Fay began as she and the other two ran alongside me, “you are referring to Dyr, correct?”

“I am.” I nodded even as I helped a few Spiritualists by shooting a couple of Dire Wolves through the head with condensed beams of lightning and water. “The reason the Demon Beasts are being drawn here is because the Leucht Family is using Dyr in a ritual to activate and increase her power. If we want to stop the Demon Beasts from coming, then we need to find Dyr and interrupt the ritual.”

“But the Leucht Family is…” Kari began, only to grimace.

“Right,” I said, “The Leucht Family is hiding somewhere in the sewers, so that’s where we are going.”

***

Empress Hilda didn’t look away from the charging Acromantula as her daughter, Eryk, Fay, and Lin disappeared back into Nevaria. She was worried for them. She didn’t know what they were doing, and that caused her worry to gnaw at her. However, her daughter had clearly come into her own. What’s more, she had friends who she could now rely on in times of trouble.

They would be fine.

“Dante, Rainer, Valence,” she called out. “Just like the last time we fought against an A-rank Demon Beast, I will be relying on you three to keep it distracted while I activate Three Thousand Steps.”

“You can count on us!” Dante said as he readied his broadsword.

“Your wish is our command.” Valence placed his battle ax against his shoulder.

“Here it comes.” Rainer knelt down and held out his hands as he gripped the glaives that were his weapon of choice.

As the Acromantula charged forward, Valence rushed out to meet it. The creature attempted to shoot a weapon at him, but Valence was faster than he looked, sidestepping the attack and spinning around. A truly astounding amount of Spiritual Power surged through his battle ax. Then it was released as a massive wave of fire that slammed into the Acromantula and sent it stumbling backward.

A pained shriek erupted from the beast. Valence’s attack seemed to have caused very little damage despite pushing the Demon Beast back. That was when Dante rushed in and surrounded his weapon in a layer of lightning by rotating his blade. He sliced into one of the Acromantula’s legs, but all that happened was the metal clanged off the hairy appendage, which felt like it was fully armored. His arms shook as he stumbled back.

“What the hell is with this hair! It’s so freaking sturdy—whoa!”

The Acromantula’s spinnerette tried to impale him. Dante leapt backward several times, then moved left, right, and right again, avoiding the Demon Beast’s massive abdomen as it came down in an attempt to stick him with the sharp needle on its backside.

During this time, Rainer rushed forward, his glaives coated in a green layer of wind as he swung his hands back and forth, and proceeded to attack the creature’s legs from outside. None of his attacks did any real damage, of course, but the Acromantula suddenly stopped attacking Dante and started attacking on him. However, once the creature began ignoring him, Dante attacked. This caused the Acromantula to switch back and forth between attacking Dante and Rainer, which simply made it impossible for the Demon Beast to land a single hit on them.

Unfortunately, this Demon Beast was smarter than it looked. Dante and Rainer soon discovered that when a web shot from the Acromantula’s back and wrapped around Dante’s body. He didn’t even have a second to lament getting caught before he was lifted into the air and slammed into Rainer. The two went down in a tangle of limbs of clanging steel.

“Ugh… that was unpleasant. It’s a good thing we’ve strengthened our bodies,” Dante groaned.

“The Second State of Spiritualism is indeed a powerful defense, physically speaking, though it doesn’t offer as much protection as a normal Spiritual Aura,” Rainer added just before a shadow appeared above them. “Look out!”

Rainer didn’t wait for Dante to respond as he rolled them across the floor. He was just in time. The Acromantula slammed its spindly legs into the ground. When the Demon Beast lifted its legs, a small hole like a puncture mark appeared in the earth, showing off just how sharp the tips of those legs were. They’d be dead if that hit them. Not even their Spiritual Auras would be able to protect them from the strength of an A-rank Demon Beast like this.

As they continued rolling across the floor, Valence rushed in, swinging his battle ax with a ferocious battlecry. His fiery attack slammed into the Demon Beast’s foremost left leg. While the hair covering the leg was harder than steel and protected it from being cut into, the force of the attack was so powerful that the Acromantula’s leg was knocked right out from underneath it. A screech escaped the creature’s mouth as it fell down.

“Now there’s the Valence we know and love!” Dante crowed as he and Rainer scrambled to their feet. “Gotta love that incredible brute strength of yours!”

“If you have time to talk, then you have time to attack,” Valence said as he leapt into the air and slammed his ax onto the head of the Acromantula. Fire burst from around the blade, superheating the metal and causing it to turn red. However, the attack did almost nothing against the Acromantula. Even the hairs on its head remained pristine.

“Damn, this thing is tough,” Dante complained, but he rushed forward and continued to attack it alongside Valence and Rainer.

Despite all three of them attacking at the same time, it looked like the Acromantula still had the upper hand. None of their attacks could deal any real damage to it. However, the giant spider-type Demon Beast was powerful enough that it could use those spindly and weak-looking legs to knock them back. What’s more, the webs it spat from its mouth and spinnerette clung to the ground and forced the three to be careful. They couldn’t afford to step on those webs, lest they get stuck and leave themselves open.

Among the three of them, Valence did the most. His powerful swings didn’t injure the Acromantula, but they were strong enough to knock the creature back, causing it to stumble. Dante and Rainer were talented. However, they lacked Valence’s raw physical strength, which was impressive even without relying on the Second State of Spiritualism.

Empress Hilda stood several meters from where the battle was taking place. She kept one eye on how the fight was progressing, but most of her attention was focused inward. Her golden Spiritual Aura had already been unleashed. However, the aura was shrinking as she took it into herself, strengthening her body to levels beyond superhuman. This was only the first step, however. The final step was the hardest part.

“Hgggnnn!”

Groaning as unleashed the remaining Spiritual Power she had inside of her body, Empress Hilda converted it all into light energy. The act of doing such a thing hurt. It felt like her insides were being burned by her own light, but she kept it up, converting the pure power into her elemental affinity, and thus transforming her body into the light element.

Empress Hilda’s body suddenly became ethereal and luminescent. Anyone looking her way would have been unable to look at her directly. Her entire body had turned into a human figure of pure light, a golden being that shone brighter than even the Sun.

“Dante, Rainer, Valence,” Empress Hilda called out. “Retreat now. Leave this to me.”

“Right!”

“Got it!”

“Yes, My Lady!”

The three acknowledged her orders and beat a hasty retreat, separating from each other and forcing the Acromantula to stand there in indecision as it tried to decide who it should go after first.

It would never get the chance.

At that moment, Empress Hilda had appeared underneath it. Her legs were already bent, the sabre she used held skyward near her chest, and her head tilted up as she stared into the abdomen of this powerful yet repulsive creature. From this position, she hyperextended her legs as though jumping, and then thrust out her sword and tore a hole straight through the creature’s body.

She ascended high into the sky as blood trailed around her like streamers caught in the wind. From her new vantage point, she could see the hole she had created inside of this creature. Large and gaping, it was possible for her to see the ground through it. The Acromantula was already dead. It had slumped onto its belly just like the one her daughter had felled, legs twitching erratically as they underwent seizures.

Empress Hilda disappeared from the sky and appeared back on the ground a second later, her body reverting back into flesh, blood, and bone. She took a deep breath. Her shoulders shuddered. Using this technique always consumed a large amount of Spiritual Power, and she’d used quite a bit already defending the civilians. That one attack had used all the Spiritual Power she had left.

“Hilda!”

“Lady Hilda!”

“My dear wife!”

Empress Hilda sighed at Dante’s name for her, but it was an endearing sigh. Her three husbands arrived quickly and formed a circle around her. It was like they were prepared to catch her should she fall, but now was not the time for such weakness. Squaring her shoulders, she looked at the three and issued her commands.

“There are still many Demon Beasts to take care of. Dante, I would like you to take charge of maintaining the frontlines. Rainer, use your talent as a commander to lead troops into Nevaria and defeat any Demon Beasts still inside. Then set up a field hospital to treat the injured. Valence, you and the Imperial Royal Guards will come with me. We are pushing these Demon Beasts back!”

Even now, her people were still fighting Demon Beasts all around them, doing their best to slay the tens of thousands that were still pouring in from the mountain pass. She saw one of her shoulders go down, buried under a pile of smaller, less powerful Acromantula. Several dozen meters to her right, a young woman launched a fireball at a Dire Wolf, striking its head and killing it, but in return, she got mauled by two more Dire Wolves. Death was everywhere. They could not afford to remain still.

At her command, the three men straightened their backs, pride and determination showing on their faces.

“Yes, My Lady!” They shouted at the same time.

***

There were many entrances to the sewers located throughout Nevaria. Most of them were manholes, large pots covering holes that led into the sewer’s first level via a ladder. These were generally built next to drains that helped keep the streets dry.

We didn’t use one of those to enter the sewers, however.

The entrance we used was built under the ground and accessed through a staircase right next to a canal, which had been irrigated for the sole purpose of separating the sewer water from usable water.

Perhaps owing to the fact that this was the entrance to a sewer, it wasn’t as well-maintained as other entrances. The hinges of the rusted door squeaked when I opened it and led the girls inside. It was dark, damp, and I could only see well after channeling the lightning element into my eyes. There was also the smell. Even before we had entered the canal, the smell had been rancid like rotten eggs and sulfur, but upon stepping into the sewer, the scent became a thousand times worse.

“T-this princess is beginning to regret agreeing to come down here.” Lin grimaced as she covered her mouth. Her tongue was very sensitive to scents, so I imagine she could actually “taste” how bad this sewer smelled.

“I-I agree,” Fay complained as she pinched her nose between her fingers.

“I’ve never been down here before,” Kari murmured as she also covered her nose with her free hand. “It’s rather gloomy and disgusting, isn’t it?”

The area we were in right now was just a hallway made of stone. Our footsteps echoed along the floor, tap tap tap tap tap-tap, sounding out of time as we all walked at a slightly different pace. Of course, Lin wasn’t walking at all. For a moment, I worried about how her body would fit in the sewers, but after taking several staircases that led deeper into the sewer, we stepped into the actual sewer, and I realized I needn’t worry at all.

This place was big.

The large room was dark and covered in grime, but a few monster core lamps helped illuminate the passage a little, allowing me to see how long the rectangular room was. We walked down a set of smaller stairs. Several small pipes were jutting from the walls, disgusting black water that looked more like sludge pouring out from them and into the main sewage channel. As we stepped onto a walkway, I noticed that the walkway sloped in one direction to help keep the water from clogging up.

“This place is huge,” Fay muttered in shock. “I had no idea the sewers were so massive.”

“These sewers were built long before the Catastrophe,” I told them all. “According to some of the books I read, the sewers were built by some of the most powerful earth affinity Spiritualists of the time. It is a network that spreads across all of Nevaria. Supposedly, the many passages and interconnecting corridors aren’t just for sewage either. They were made as a means of safeguarding the people. In the event of something like an invasion, the citizens could come down here and hide out until the danger had passed.”

“Which explains why it’s such a maze,” Fay agreed.

“This place is almost like a ruin in and of itself,” Kari added.

“This princess doesn’t care what it’s like,” Lin complained. “She just wants to hurry up, destroy that ritual, rescue Dyr, and leave. Her tail is getting covered in this disgusting gunk, and it is not pleasant.”

I nodded. “Let’s continue walking. I’ll use Spiritual Perception to find out where Dyr is. She will probably be surrounded by members of the Leucht Family.”

We all agreed and set off, traveling down both the main passage and numerous side passages. This place really was like a maze. I could see now what the books I’d read meant when they said it had been designed to help protect civilians in the event of enemy invasion. Aside from there being so many passages that anyone unfamiliar with the sewers would get lost, there were numerous choke points and excellent ambush spots. Anyone invading who came down here would find it increasingly difficult to fight back without knowledge of the sewers.

The sewers consisted of three levels. Each level was accessible by a set of staircases. While most of the doors leading further down were locked, it wasn’t a problem for us. I cut the doors down with a sword made of lightning and our group continued moving.

As we continued traveling deeper, I activated Spiritual Perception, causing the colors to fade from my vision. However, in exchange for losing all sense of color, I was able to see the bright Spiritual Aura of each person near me. There were five. Three of them were from Kari, Lin, and Fay, but I also detected two hiding inside of a pair of large pipes to our left and right respectively. I couldn’t see them. However, I could feel them hiding in the shadows.

Was it those Shadow Puppets I had faced before?

“Kari,” I whispered.

“Yes?” she whispered back.

“You see those two pipes? I want you to create a pair of light spears and toss them over there.”

Kari didn’t quite seem to understand why I was asking her to do this, but she was at least willing to do as I asked. She took her ranseur in a firm, two-handed grip, slashed down from her left shoulder to her right hip as she took one step forward, and then slashed upward from that same position. What appeared before her was a single line of brilliant golden light. The light soon twisted and warped, transforming into a set of tridents that flew toward the two pipes faster than human perceptions could follow.

“SKKKRREEEEEE!!!”

Two agonized cries echoed from inside of the pipes. Her weapon had impaled a pair of creatures that had been hiding with the shadows. Covered in cloaks and wearing masks, the creatures that had attacked me and Lin so long ago fell onto the walkways located on either side of the sewers, but rather than growing still, they burst into shadows and ash.

“It’s those things again!” Lin hissed as she saw what Kari’s attacks had killed.

“Those things?” Fay tilted her head. “Are you familiar with these strange people?”

“They attacked me and Lin back when I was still living in a simple housing unit,” I answered. “Also, they aren’t people. They’re shadows.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kari.

“How should I explain this?” I frowned and tried to recall my conversation with Skygge when I first discovered the ritual they were using Dyr for back in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. “These ‘creatures’ are nothing more than an agglomerated mass of shadows that have been condensed into a human shape. They walk on two legs and maybe resembled humans in the vaguest sense, but they were never human to begin with. Those Runes on their facemasks aren’t there to enslave them or anything. It’s just a Rune Circle meant to keep the shadows that created from from dispersing.”

“So they are just thralls who are following the orders of their master?” Kari asked.

“Essentially.” I frowned and thought back to what I’d seen as we took a set of stairs that led deeper into the sewers. “The Runes on their masks are inversed versions of standard Runes. Fehu Reversed, which can nean slavery or bondage. Ansuz Merkstave, the Rune of manipulation. And Nauthiz Merkstave, which means constrainment of freedom, deprivation, and emotional hunger. The Rune Circle was quite crude, but those three Runes are designed to constrain the shadows that have been gathered into a shape that shadows are not naturally meant to take. Furthermore, it allows the shadows a certain level of autonomy, giving them the ability to follow basic orders.”

The staircase ended as did my explanation, and I cut down the door at the bottom and stepped into another hallway. The three girls followed after me.

“That seems rather pitiful.” Fay looked at where the shadows had disappeared with pity in her eyes.

I shook my head. “Don’t feel too much pity toward them. It is like I said. Those things are not alive, nor were they ever living to begin with.” I could see the curious looks Lin, Kari, and Fay were wearing, but we didn’t have time for me to go into a thorough explanation. “Do not worry about this too much. Let’s keep going for now. If at all possible, I would like to rescue Dyr before something terrible happens, so we need to hurry.”

***

Skygge looked up from the ritual and tilted his head to the side. Standing behind him, Hagen noticed the sudden change in the man’s demeanor.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Ke ke ke. It seems two of my elite shadows have been destroyed. I wasn’t able to get a clear look at them through my parallel vision, but given what is happening topside and what’s happened so far, I believe the people who are heading our way is Eryk Veiger, Kari Astralia, Fay Valstine, and Lin.”

The expression on Hagen’s face darkened when he heard those names. Skygge would have laughed at the look this man wore, but he could ill-afford to do such a thing right now. At least, until his goals had been accomplished, he needed to play along with this man and his silly wims.

“That damn brat!” Hagen growled. “It seems he’s realized what is happening and is coming here to stop the ritual!”

“Ke ke ke. It certainly seems that way. Would you like me to send more shadows?” asked Skygge.

“No.” Hagen shook his head after a moment. “I want you to keep focusing on the ritual for now. I will send people to take care of them.” He glanced at the two women by his side. “Find those four who have invaded the sewer and dispose of them.”

The two women bowed low to him, turned around, and headed for the door. Skygge didn’t know much about either woman, but they moved like experienced warriors. He assumed they were originally assassins or mercenaries who had attempted to kill Hagen, were defeated, and then became his concubines. There had been a rumor that Hagen was even more lascivious than Grant Leucht had been back in his youth.

“Ke ke. Will those two be enough to defeat Eryk Veiger and his harem?”

“Hmph. You need not worry about that.” Hagen crossed his arms and glared. “Svanhild and Sigrid might not look like it, but they are very powerful women who were once mercenaries that specialized in assassination. Their ability to sneak up to someone undetected and kill them before they can even realize it is unparalleled. Even your Shadows are no match for them.”

“Ke ke ke. How interesting. Well, here is to hoping those two live up to the hype.”

With nothing more needing to be said, Skygge turned back to the ritual circle. Dyr was lying naked in the middle of it. However, she was no longer writhing around and yelling in pain. Her supine body was almost completely still, feet canted inward, eyes unseeing and glazed over, and drool leaking from her mouth. The only signs that she was still alive were the rise and fall of her bare chest, and even that was beginning to grow weaker.

“Ke ke. It won’t be long now before this girl’s life expires.” Within his hood, Skygge grinned. “Once that happens, all their efforts to come and rescue this girl will be in vein anyway.”