Chapter Fifteen: The Asura
I
The last of the light faded like a lingering aroma. Fresh darkness obscured the ravine. A girl and a young man who should never have found themselves fighting on the same side were at that moment running together toward a shared goal. Very soon now they would have the imperial capital of Olsted in their sights.
Once we get through here, it’s only a stone’s throw to Olsted. We’re almost there...
Felix glanced over at Olivia, who ran shoulder to shoulder with him. The ravine around them was hazy, like the air above a flame. It seemed to him that the closer they drew to the capital, the harder Olivia’s expression became.
“The way out of the ravine is over this hill.”
“Not far to the hut by the lake, then...”
Both of them sensed an inscrutable hostility and skidded to a halt, dropping Swift Step. They then heard the voice of a young man, cheerful in a way that was at odds with the hostile aura.
“One.”
The empty space before them distorted into a writhing mass of enormous white snakes that rushed at Olivia and Felix. Felix cleaved across with Elhazard to impede the snakes, while Olivia leaped up into the sky.
“Two.” The next voice was a woman’s and absolutely devoid of humanity. A moment later, however, it filled with emotion. “Argh?!”
There was an extraordinary blast of wind from a blade as simultaneously, a corpse fell to the ground in a shower of blood, sliced clean in two. After cleaving through the snakes, Felix, without changing his stance, immediately reached behind him. He deftly drew the dagger that lay against the small of his back, then threw it at a point in the gloom. The dagger glowed with azure light as it was swallowed by darkness. Then a shattered black mask slid down the slope to them. He barely had time to register the design of white snakes on the mask before—
“Three.” A vanishingly thin thread of pure murderous intent, as fine as a single hair, came at him out of a blind spot. But Felix’s instincts, recognizing that a hit would mean certain death, screamed out a warning at him. He was about to dodge—but he didn’t have to. With a rush of wind, Olivia shot past his back. She cut right through the thread and disappeared along with their attackers. In the next instant, everything turned gray, and the world turned upside down. Felix gasped, feeling as though he had been bound hand and foot. He couldn’t so much as twitch a finger. Blades came at him from every direction, striking with unerring precision. It all seemed to happen in less than a second.
Felix fell to his knees with a grunt as the world around him returned to normal. Strangely enough, despite all the sword strikes he had taken, only the pain stood out—most critically, he wasn’t actually bleeding. Felix realized then that this was nothing more than an Odic illusion to fool his perceptions, though it wasn’t possible to convince his brain of this in the blink of an eye.
Sliding its way through the gap came a voice ripe with age.
“Four. Checkmate.”
Felix’s body still refused to obey him. The attacker launched off a tree trunk, hurtling at him through the air. The perfect orb of light that shone, wavering, through the clouds offered just enough light for him to make out a black blade coming toward him. He had two seconds until contact. Felix judged he could just evade it since he managed to predict their movements. The attacker was sure he had Felix. That was his chance. Without shifting from his advantageous stance, he lined up a counterstrike, taking care that his opponent wouldn’t catch on to what he was doing.
The black blade closed in without a sound. Felix set his sights on it...
Something’s wrong. He ran over what the attacker had said in his mind. First they announce their attacks, now he openly declares victory? Why?
All that mattered to the attacker was taking out his target. He didn’t entertain any feelings of pride. Felix knew that better than anyone. The answer to the incongruity came to him in no time.
His weapon—it isn’t the black blade!
Felix stabbed Elhazard straight down deep into the ground, then pushed his Odh into the tip of the blade. In the time it took to draw breath, the Odh burst out, and the ground beneath Felix’s feet caved in.
“Eh?!”
He was immediately proved right. Gouging a spiral into the ground where Felix had just stood came the true weapon—a black spear three times the length of the blade. If he had mistaken it for a blade to the last, it would have stabbed clean through him.
His attacker, knowing that he would just manage to evade the attack and that he would try for a counterstrike, had used his Odh to disguise his weapon. The announcement of the attacks and the victory declaration had all been part of the setup.
Felix kicked off the ground, shooting up into the sky with Elhazard thrust out directly above him. The attacker had left his body exposed, and the blade pierced straight through his heart.
So it was you, Barracio...
The sight inspired no trace of nostalgia nor any positive emotion in Felix.
Olivia landed soundlessly beside him.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, not meeting her gaze.
“No.”
Felix let out a breath. Then, turning to the darkness, he called out in a clear voice, “Why don’t you come out and face us?”
The sound reverberated out around the ravine. Two shadows stepped out from behind boulders to their right and left. One was Nefer, who had stolen into Felix’s rooms at Listelein Palace. The other was an old man with muscles built up to the extreme, which he wore like a suit of armor.
You’ve come yourself, then... Felix moved in front of Olivia to shield her, then glared at Zebulla, leader of the Asura.
“You fought off all four of them, did you?” Zebulla said casually, paying no attention to his comrade sprawled at his feet. “All the better for me.”
“Is Olivia your target?”
“As if you need to ask.” Nefer put a hand on his hip and snickered. Of course Felix already knew the answer full well, but he still couldn’t stop his every drop of blood from boiling.
“When will you desist in this foolishness? Both the king to whom you swore your oath and his kingdom have long since been lost to the sands of time.”
“Kings die, nations fall. Such things mean nothing to us. Once we have formed a contract, we do not stop until it is fulfilled. That is our code—our truth. Do not tell me you have forgotten.”
“Such a thing can be called neither code nor truth. It is nothing more than a curse!” On the last word, Felix threw his hand out as though to cast it away from him.
Zebulla was motionless. “Are you done? Of all things, you went and allied yourself with one of the Deep Folk—our sworn enemy. When I first heard of it, I could scarcely believe it. But thinking back, I’m not sure why I found it so hard to swallow. His talents paled in comparison to yours, but in the end, blood will win out.”
Felix, unable to make any sense of this, narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Your father Cassiel’s feelings did not run as deep as your own, but he, too, despised the Asura. His talents were mediocre. I could make no good use of him. Why, then, rather than purge him, do you think I allowed him to roam free?”
As far as Felix could remember, he had never witnessed his father denounce the Asura. Nearly all of the Asura-style sword work and martial arts he knew, his father had taught him. That being said, his lasting impression of his father was of a man who had always been in pain for reasons he knew not.
Felix gave Zebulla a look, indicating for him to continue.
“Because of you, Felix. It was all because of you, the Asura’s greatest masterpiece. But just as your phenomenal talents began to manifest in earnest, the fool came out and declared we were to stay away from you. Thus I had no choice at that time but to act.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Felix’s anger mounted, and he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. His breathing was unnaturally heavy. But before he could worry about these physical incongruities, Zebulla went on, his voice growing silkier.
“Assassination is our trade. And not all assassinations require one to physically carry out the deed. I can create a slow-acting poison disguised as medicine. Medicine and poison are merely two sides of the same coin, and mine are such that even a well-known physician would put it down as an unknown illness...”
All other sounds around him ceased. Only Zebulla’s voice echoed around inside his head. Felix forgot how to blink. His body began to tremble as though in fear. Then a strange sensation came upon him. Without turning his head, he looked around. His eyes met those of the girl watching him.
“Hey, you okay...?” The strange sensation was Olivia’s hand laid over his. The warmth of that human touch brought clarity back to his stupefied mind. The sounds of his surroundings came back in a rush.
Felix looked back and saw Zebulla laughing.
“You scum,” he shouted, glaring at Zebulla with all the hatred he could muster. From behind the mask, he thought he could see Zebulla’s leering smile. “Why my mother? My mother knew nothing!”
He remembered his sister Luna weeping and clinging to their mother on her sickbed, and how their mother had stroked Luna’s hair with her hand as wasted as withered twigs as she told Felix with a smile that he was to look after his sister. The next day, she had passed as quietly as if falling asleep.
“The Asura do not need attachments. We do not need love. We perfect our skills and our arts, we have our ultimate code. That is enough.”
Felix felt a pure and undiluted desire to kill this man growing rapidly inside him. His heart desired nothing more than for him to take up his sword and surrender to his hate. But at the critical moment, he maintained his self-control.
“Did you attack us knowing what is happening out there?” Felix forced himself to ask.
“Naturally, I know of it,” Zebulla replied coolly. “I also know that it is of no significance whatsoever to the Asura.” Nefer, whom Felix also had an eye on, shrugged.
“It was foolish of me to ask. It was my ignorance and my naivety that led to my parents’ deaths and caused my sister so much pain. I will not avert my eyes from you any longer. I will put an end to all of this here and now.”
He gripped Elhazard’s hilt. But he did not draw the blade. He stared down at the lily-white hand that held his wrist, then up at Olivia. She was regarding him with a complicated expression.
“You want revenge on them because they killed your parents?”
“Should I stop?” Felix asked. Olivia gave a small shake of her head.
“No, it’s just that from what I heard, those rats killed my parents too.”
Felix gaped at her.
“But for some reason,” Olivia went on, “it didn’t make me want to get revenge. I mean, it’s probably partly because I was only a baby, so I don’t really remember them. But, um, the thing I was wondering is, was I supposed to get angry like you are now?”
Felix felt his fury rapidly ebbing away as he stared at this girl who couldn’t even feel anger upon learning that her parents had been murdered.
“I’m afraid I don’t know how to answer that,” he said. “But at the risk of sounding presumptuous, what I can tell you is there is no right or wrong way to feel. Nor can that which you feel in your heart be false. That much I know to be true.”
“It’s pretty complicated, huh?” said Olivia with a rueful smile.
“That it is...” Felix answered with a small smile of his own. But his expression immediately hardened. “You’re sure that they murdered your parents?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she was telling the truth. Only the rat who told me isn’t here.”
“Not only my parents, but yours as well...” Felix said slowly. “I’m so sorry.”
Olivia blinked at him. “Why are you apologizing? It’s not like you killed them, right?”
“Well, no, of course not, but...”
“Then you’ve got nothing to say sorry for.”
Her earnest sincerity just made it all the more unbearable. The unconditional love and tenderness that she should have received had been ripped from her by the Asura. It was impossible to get that back, which made Felix’s anger burn hotter and hotter.
“Please stay back, Olivia. I will take both of them.”
“How come? Do you want to get revenge by yourself or something?”
“I won’t deny that I feel that way, true, but I’ve also simply been waiting for this fight. Above all, it is my duty as one with Asura blood in his veins to put an end to them.”
“Your duty, huh? I totally don’t get that sort of thing. But I did tell them that if they attacked me again I’d kill them, and I don’t want to break my promise now.”
“You are determined?”
“Yep. So let’s decide it with this.”
Olivia made a strange noise that sounded like “ta-da” and produced a coin from her pocket. Its distinctive markings immediately told Felix that it was Estorian gold.
“When you’ve got different opinions and neither side will back down, this is supposed to be the most peaceful way to resolve it. Ashton taught me about it. Do you want heads or tails? Oh, tails is the side with the picture.”
“We can’t decide with—”
“Okay, I’ll take heads,” Olivia said, cutting him off. She flicked the coin, sending it spinning up into the air and tracing a graceful arc. It kept up the rotation without losing speed right until the end.
“Aaaand it’s heads.” Olivia revealed the coin in her palm with a flourish, then giggled.
I suppose there’s no convincing her... Felix thought. Giving up on persuasion, he turned back to Nefer.
“Very well. I leave the man on the right to you,” he said to Olivia. But she held up her arms in a big X.
“Bzzzt, wrong answer. The rat on the left is yours. I take the big rat on the right.” Underneath her breezy tone, Felix could hear the steeliness of her will.
Nefer is no slouch, but I’m confident he wouldn’t best Olivia. Zebulla is a different story. His true powers are an unknown quantity. I wanted to avoid unnecessary risk, but...
Olivia, without taking her gaze off him for a second, repeated, “I take the big rat on the right.”
“Very well,” Felix said, resigning himself. “I leave him in your hands.”
“Mm-hmm. I’ve got it all taken care of.”
“Enough. This little routine grows tiresome,” said Zebulla, cutting into their conversation.
“Why tell me the truth now?” Felix asked. He was aware that Zebulla had been scheming to install Felix as his successor. All Zebulla could have hoped to achieve by revealing the truth was incur Felix’s wrath—and indeed, he had done just that. No matter how things played out, Zebulla would not get what he wanted. Felix couldn’t stop his mind fixating on the inexplicability of it.
Zebulla took off his black mask to reveal his face, then answered in a matter-of-fact tone, stroking his white beard that reached down to his chest as he spoke.
“Your soul is still not ready. At some point, I had to find the demon inside of you. And it had all gone ninety-nine point nine percent according to plan...” He broke off to shoot Olivia an icy glare. “But then the Deep Folk girl had to interfere.”
“Who, me?” Olivia said, pointing at her own face. “I haven’t done anything, though, right?”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Felix said with a smile. Olivia cocked her head to one side, looking baffled.
“Ah, it is a great shame. Truly, a great shame...” Zebulla said. “But so it goes.” His Odh surged explosively. A great flock of wild birds rose up shrieking and fled the ravine.
“I’ll leave the Deep Folk girl to you, then,” Nefer said breezily.
“So it must be.” Zebulla’s eyes glittered brightly like jewels.
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