B3 - Chapter 64: Taking Action
Seth swallowed hard, the sound seeming unnaturally loud in the quiet shelter.
Elena turned back toward the rain, drawing her knees against her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She stared into the darkness beyond the shimmering barrier for a long moment. "Sometimes I wonder if I should just leave Kastal and go with you," she whispered.
Seth's throat tightened. He hesitated in responding as he grasped the weight behind those words. This meant a lot coming from her.
"I'd be happy to have you by my side," he answered at last. "I'm just afraid you'd end up regretting that decision."
"I wouldn't."
The answer had come instantly. Without hesitation.
Seth tentatively rested his hands near her waist. "I know how much you want to help the people here. Rebuilding Kastal alongside your House, the Champions of Chaos, and everyone else... staying here would allow you to reach that goal." He smiled faintly. "And who knows? Maybe one day you'll be the one leading this country and turning it into something better."
Elena seemed caught off guard by his words, but the reaction quickly faded, and her shoulders slumped. "I don't think I'll ever be strong enough."
"You will."
"What if I'm not?"
"Then I'll stand behind you." His core stirred faintly in his chest. "And I'll make sure people listen to you."
Elena let out a scoff and began turning toward him. "I refuse to have people follow me because they're afraid of—"
The words caught in her throat. She had turned farther than she'd intended.
Now their faces were once again only inches apart.
Seth's breath hitched in his throat.
For a long, silent moment, he lost himself in the emerald depths of her eyes. Neither of them moved. The space between them seemed to disappear. Almost against his will, his gaze drifted downward to her lips.
Elena's warm breath brushed against his face.
"Will you really come back for me?" she whispered. The vulnerability in her voice struck Seth harder than any blade could. "Do you promise?"
He held her gaze, and everything else disappeared. The cold, the pain, the fear of the unknown waiting for him—all gone. He raised a hand and gently cupped her cheek, then let his thumb brush against her skin.
"I swear I will."
Elena drew a shaky breath and leaned into his touch, her hand finding his.
Then she moved closer and her emerald eyes fluttered shut.
The last of Seth's restraint finally slipped away. He bridged the final sliver of distance between them, and their lips met. Beyond the shelter, rain continued to fall. More violence and pain waited for them. They both knew that.
Yet for one stolen moment, it all simply ceased to exist.
Colossus's voice pulled Seth from sleep.
'Seth—'
'Stop,' Nightmare grumbled, cutting the young scorpion off through Link. 'His watch starts in less than an hour. Let him sleep.'
'But that's too long!' Colossus protested.
Seth let out a weary sigh and slowly opened his eyes.
Elena was asleep beside him so, careful not to wake her, he eased himself upright and looked at Nightmare, who was standing watch near the entrance of the shelter.
'What is it, Colossus?' Seth asked groggily through Link.
'You are the worst...' Nightmare muttered, shaking his head.
'Oh! Seth! Umm... sorry for waking you,' Colossus said, his excitement practically overflowing through their bond. 'And congratulations on the... exchange of saliva! It's a little strange and doesn't seem fun, but Big Brother Nightmare and I both know how much you've been waiting for that!'
'I have not been 'waiting' for anything,' Seth retorted, rubbing a hand over his face. 'And don't call it an 'exchange of saliva.' '
Nightmare snorted. 'I told you he wouldn't like you calling it that.'
'Fine,' Colossus replied. 'Congratulations on the... mouth bonding?'
Seth groaned. 'Colossus...'
'Right! Sorry!' the young scorpion blurted. 'Anyway... I was wondering if I could have the other one?'
'What do you mean the—'
Seth froze. Colossus was speaking to him, which could only mean one thing: the scorpion had finished absorbing the Copper Seed.
Seth lifted his gaze to the damp canopy high above the large roots that served them as a roof. The first light of dawn had yet to touch the storm clouds.
This text was taken from NovelPhoenix. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The giant scorpion had finished in less than ten hours.
'Colossus... don't tell me you rushed the absorption just so you could start the next one.'
'No, no!' the young scorpion answered, defending himself. 'It just felt really easy! I think I did even better than the last time! I just imagined myself as an enormous mountain of rock! One that nothing could ever break! Not even that man's hammer! Your female partner will be able to count on me to protect her!'
'My... female partner? 'Seth repeated, his mind momentarily blank. 'No. Absolutely not.'
'What?' Colossus asked, genuinely confused. 'Calling her "mother" feels a little strange...'
'Just call her Elena.'
'Isn't it a bit cold?' the scorpion argued. 'She's officially part of our family now!'
Seth slowly turned toward the shelter's entrance. 'Nightmare... a bit of help?'
'Not a chance,' the direwolf replied, obvious amusement rippling through the mental voice.
Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. 'You can ask her what she'd like to be called when she wakes up,' he said at last. 'But I'm sure she'll still opt for 'Elena.' '
'Okay...' Colossus grumbled, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. 'Now can I have it? I'll absorb it in less than a day, I just know it. Pleaaaaase!'
Seth rolled his eyes. Even if he refused, he knew the scorpion wouldn't stop asking. Besides, with no one left on the Empire's side capable of stopping him, the plan was already to rely on Beastmaster Rage and launch swift ambushes alongside Nightmare before slipping away again to steadily thin the enemy's numbers.
We should be able to do without Colossus.
'Fine,' he answered at last.
The next days in the Rift's forest turned out as Seth had expected.
After safely regrouping with the other members of his party, Seth convinced them to wait so he could wear down the imperial forces. Marine and Elena had little trouble persuading Jaxar and his exhausted men to avoid another direct engagement for the time being. After the beating the king's grandson had suffered, he had no desire to rush headlong into another battle.
Seth and Nightmare weaponized Beastmaster Rage to its limits.
They launched a series of brutal hit-and-run ambushes against the empire's forces, striking isolated patrols along the edge of the enemy camp. Every assault lasted barely a minute or two; a handful of soldiers would die to Dusk Scythes and Gloom Fangs, then Seth and Nightmare would vanish back into the forest, only to emerge from a different direction an hour or two later.
During those raids, Seth deliberately ignored the Stabilizer Obelisks.
By staying near the edge of the imperial base, he could simply retreat beyond the artifacts' field whenever the enemy tried to overwhelm him with scrolls.
After the first day, the acting commander of the imperial survivors had finally grasped the scale of their losses and committed the bulk of his remaining soldiers to hunting Seth down.
The effort proved futile.
Realizing they could not catch him after a day of effort, the Imperials changed tactics and launched a broad sweep through the rainforest, hoping to locate and annihilate Kastal's main encampment instead.
To their dismay, Seth shadowed their movements from afar and relayed their positions directly to Elena through his communication orb. The timely warnings allowed the Kastal survivors to slip away from every attempted encirclement.
Given how disastrous the situation had become for the enemy, Seth began to worry the Imperial soldiers would simply abandon the Rift entirely, only two days in.
Fortunately, it seemed the Empress had frightened them so much that none dared use an Escape scroll. Celess had likely been the only member of the entire expedition who had been granted the privilege of retreating without being executed.
Seth stood alone in the middle of a wide, rain-soaked clearing, his posture deliberately relaxed.His communication orb rested in his hand.
Almost everything was ready for the final battle.
Twenty-four hours prior, Seth had sent Devus out of the Rift to meet with the Champions of Chaos. The Guardian had suffered several fractured ribs during the fight with Jaz, making him the ideal messenger.
Now, only a few hours remained before Seth needed to bring the battle to its conclusion. Once he did, everyone would be standing in the neutral zone and be ready.
There was only one last task to complete.
The communication orb in Seth's hand glowed.
???: We'll reach your position in about three minutes.
Seth slipped the sphere back into his Endless Pouch.
He pulled out a strip of dried meat and leaned casually against a moss-covered boulder, making it appear as if he had stopped for a meal.
'How exactly am I supposed to disarm her without biting?' Nightmare grumbled through Link while hiding in the dense brush nearby.
'You can bite,' Seth replied with a weary sigh. 'Just don't actually injure her.'
The direwolf huffed. 'That basically means I can't bite.'
Seth rolled his eyes, waiting quietly for Kaelen and his sister to ambush him.
Without Colossus, things would be a little more complicated.
Despite all his enthusiastic promises earlier, the young scorpion had yet to finish absorbing Jaz's Legendary Iron Seed—nearly three full days had passed since the process had begun.
Seth wasn't truly worried. Through Link, he could feel the absorption nearing its end.
Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to wait any longer.
They would have to both capture Floria and finish the Rift without Colossus.
Neither truly concerned Seth, though the scorpion would have made both of the tasks considerably easier.
'He's going to owe me for this,' Nightmare grumbled from his hiding place. 'I've been doing all the work because of him.'
'Always complaining,' Seth replied.
Before either of them could continue, a faint rustle reached his ears from the left.
Seth ignored it. He remained leaning against the mossy boulder, taking another bite of his dried meat as if he hadn't noticed a thing.
Then the trap sprang, and two blurry figures burst from the bushes.
Floria charged into the clearing beside Kaelen, her frame barely visible as she closed in. Seth dropped his food, pivoted, and lunged at the Dark Assassin's sister.
His arm shot up to intercept the thrust of her dagger. Dark aether hummed along the blade as it scraped across the reinforced part of his gauntlet, sending a shower of sparks into the rain. Without missing a beat, he slipped past her follow-up slash and drove a punch toward her abdomen.
Floria reacted instantly.
Aether surged through her legs as she activated the same movement spell Kaelen had cast several times in the past; her body blurred into a trail of afterimages, carrying her out of Seth's reach. She landed several paces away and shot a glance toward her brother.
Kaelen wasn't invisible anymore and was now standing at the edge of the clearing.
"For the Gods' sake, what are—"
She never finished her question.
Nightmare surged out of Illusionary Emptiness and slammed into her back with enough force to hurl her face-first into the mud.
Seth then moved before she could recover.
He lunged and seized both wrists in an iron grip, squeezing her bones with enough force to make her gasp in pain. Her fingers opened involuntarily, dropping her dark-aether dagger into the dirt.
As Seth drove her flat against the ground beneath one knee, Nightmare stepped over her legs with a low, threatening growl.
Breathing hard, Floria twisted her head toward Kaelen.
The Dark Assassin met her gaze from the edge of the clearing.
He could have delivered a lengthy, emotional justification; he could have claimed she would understand his actions one day, or sworn this choice helped to keep her alive.
Yet to Seth's surprise, Kaelen offered no explanation. The Dark Assassin simply turned his back and began to walk away.
Floria stared after him.
The confusion on her face faded, then understanding took its place. Without a single word being exchanged, she pieced everything together. Her brother had decided to betray the Empire.
And this was how he intended to protect her.