32 Interlude: The Sword

…

A year after I first took up the Way of the Sword, years before I held Zansetsu and sought out Takemikazuchi-sama, my grandfather told me of the Eastern Warriors who stood against the monsters that ravaged the world. Though I had not judged my honorable grandfather's words perfidious by any means, I did not believe that the Eastern Warriors were as skilled in battle as he proclaimed. They were naught but mortal men, unblessed by the Kami, and I believed that their heroic sacrifices simply exaggerated their skill and power.

Now, almost a decade since I disregarded by honored grandfather's words, I found myself hating the same foolish, brash child that I once was, as I was when I left my homeland, and as I had been until this moment. Though I became capable in the Way of the Sword, I was not a master of it. Despite the fact that I trounced my grandfather in combat, I only did so because of my Kami-sama's blessing. In the very end, I only learned of my own arrogance because of my failure.

If I had been as skilled as the three Adventurers that lent me their aid, had I rigorously trained as they did, I had no doubt that my Familia would still be alive.

"Another one dead." The words came from the one who carried me upon her shoulders. The one who Bell had called his upperclassman, Arde. A Pallum. I had thought their race weak, yet she kept up the grueling pace set by her fellows with me upon her back. I had no doubt that in her slight frame resided strength greater than my own. "Where to next?"

"West." My voice seemed distant to my ears. My eyes locked onto the corpse of Haji. His prized bow was broken, legs mangled, and blows to his chest still bled profusely. There was still an arrow in his hand. Its shaft and end were bloodied. Crystals surrounded him. At least two dozen. He had fought until the end, with what little he had, as Soju had. "Down another floor."

"Good thinking, there are less Almiraj on Floor 14." Arde gave the comment after relaying my words. Her breathing was still easy. I was incapable of carrying Chigusa as I had run. There was sympathy in her eyes, but no sign of pity. The pity and scorn that had washed upon me in the Guild was still fresh in my memory. The mere memory fed the fury that was boiling in my chest. The urge to simply fall from Arde's back and meet my own, honorable end was steadily rising. "You said there are two of them left, right? Is one of them Level 2?"

"Yes." The words were more curt than I intended them to be. The fury that I had been quelling rose up at the Pallum's question. Incensed, I had snarled out my response. Lashing out without reason, I felt shame crawl up my stomach and into my throat the moment I realized my mistake. I was sure that my carrier had only meant well or perhaps wished to look after her two companions. I was forgetting myself in my anger… Readily, I apologized. "My most sincere apologies, I did not mean to-."

"I get it." Arde's words were not harsh or brusque as they were when speaking to Bell. My shame intensified as her eyes met my own. There was experience, wisdom, and understanding in those eyes. Here I acted akin to a contemptuous child, yet a woman of a race I had believed weak moments ago met my inelegance with easy commiseration. When her eyes broke from my own, I could only curl myself inward and work harder in restraining my tumultuous emotions. Imbecile, untempered fury leads to death in battle. Are you not already inept in skill and technique? Would you not only die but drag others with you? "No need to apologize. Losing family is… difficult at best."

Before I could reply, the swarm of monsters at the edge of my detection multiplied thrice over.

"Monster Party." The dreaded words left my lips. A mere dozen monsters multiplied into thirty, then became fifty, and suddenly there were seventy. I took heart in the fact that they were dying, undoubtedly because of Ouka's stalwart technique and immense might, but they simply weren't dying quickly enough. Asuka must be with him, though how long he could protect her is unknown to me. Prodigious strength and tremendous stamina alone cannot win against an endless tide. Panic overwhelmed me at the thought of the last of my Familia falling. My speech became nothing more than a plea. I cannot lose them! "They're surrounded, but they're just ahead of us!"

"Sensei, I'm charging ahead! Follow my lead!" Bell's declaration resounded in my ears. As the sole Adventurer who deigned to lend me aid, I owed him more than I have ever owned. This chance to save my Familia was only possible because of his choice to aid me. That in mind, I marshalled my thoughts and gathered what strength I could. "Senpai, you and Mikoto-san keep any other monsters from flanking us!"

The world then blurred into combat.

Cranel burst forward, launching himself off the ground using all his limbs, becoming no more than a blur of black and white. Throughout this time my three saviors have displayed an efficacy of movement, a mastery of their bodies, that I had never borne witness to before. Movements that a normal mortal would not use in battle, either because of exhaustion or the threat of self-injury, they used aplenty. The white-haired boy who had saved me vanished into the darkness ahead, only for a massive plume of fire to erupt before us all.

For a moment, I worried that he would have caused my Familia harm due to recklessness, but I saw that he fired it towards the floor as his launch carried him above the horde below. Truly, in the realm of tactics, technique, and skill, my Familia was woefully unprepared. The simple, efficient method of using Magic in such a manner had not crossed my mind. To fire from above saved my companions and wasted none of the Mind that needed to be preciously conserved by Warriors.

Arde unburdened herself of me and I took to her side. The horde of monsters we had gathered in our search was larger than the one that had pursued my Familia relentlessly. There were over thirty of the Almiraj and over a dozen of the Hellhounds. I had feared facing them with my Familia and my family's blade, yet at ease with this Pallum at my side and the hefty longsword that I had been lent. Knowing that all my enemies were before me and that my back was clear of opponents… all I needed to do was wage a battle against the monsters my own ancestors had fought.

And so I did.

The reliable, steel blade was heavy and had two edges, but against the lighter weapons of the Almiraj it fared admirably. I pressed my advantage when the monsters realized that I was not a weak opponent. As Bell had said, they hesitated to engage the strong alone. They were cowards who relied on their fellows. The split second of hesitation, as they waited for their fellows to come, was apparent to my eyes, and they fell before my unfamiliar blade like chaff. Their slight forms, which I struggled to hit with downward strikes, fell by pairs or trios as I stooped low and swung the blade in swift, crescent arcs.

Arde dealt with the Hellhounds, taking on the abominable imitations of dogs with her strange technique and skill. A combination of Magic and physical prowess, the Pallum transformed into another form to dodge blows and charge at her opponents. While I struggled to cleave through one of the fire-breathing beasts in a single slash, her blows sent them flying or utterly broke them. A single blow to the maw, following their immobilization, was all the time the slight, powerful Adventurer spared them before moving onto the next. Had I been told this morning that a Pallum would exhibit the most physical might I'd ever witnessed among my fellows, I would have scarcely believed it. Yet, as Arde broke more and more bodies with her gloved fists… I could bring no other to mind capable of such a feat.

The horde of monsters that would've destroyed my own Familia was felled within moments.

Yet, in the end, the two of us were incomparable to Bell and his Sensei.

The Almiraj and Hellhounds were incapable of reacting to the tall, gruff, and mysterious man that Bell called his Sensei. The economy of movement he displayed reminded me of my honorable grandfather. The way the wizened man approached and assaulted the monsters was akin to how my honorable grandfather approached his students in mock-combat. Indomitable. Unstoppable. In complete control. He seemed to know how each monster would react. No matter what any beast tried, it could do nothing against him, and he used them against one another. Almiraj were either crushed or killed with their own weapons. The Hellhounds found their maws closed at the exact moment for Ignis Fatuus to destroy them utterly or dashed against the dungeon itself with a simple, flowing movement. Briskly, calmly, he made his way through the horde of beasts without a single one coming close to harming him.

The man most certainly deserved the title Sensei.

However, my eyes were inevitably drawn towards Bell Cranel, the young man who saved my life.

Slight in both height and form, as well as clad in clothing more fitting for a formal event, I would have dismissed him completely had I seen him this very morning. Never would it have occurred to me that he held prodigious strength and skill. Neither would I have believed that his clothing was of excellent make for combat and daily living both. However, atop all of the many scenarios I would never have put faith in, I never believed that any being besides a god could hold so much power and ability… and yet still be so kindhearted.

There was passion and fury both in Bell Cranel. Red eyes blazed with will and focus as he abandoned safety for the sake of speed and ferocity. The mace he held in his right hand flowed with unstoppable grace and shattered skull after skull in a single motion. A rushing rapid in the form of a steel implement of war was in his hand. The Black Knife that he held in his left flashed into the heads of Hellhounds so quickly it seemed to be a spear of obsidian that disappeared moments after doing its just work.

I do not know how long I watched Bell Cranel carve apart the horde that surrounded my Familia. Time seemed to lose meaning as I witnessed him. Stories, both from my own homeland and that of the West, entered my mind as I was entranced by his deadly work. Tempered fury fueled by justice drove a warrior of unmatched caliber on a righteous path. What I saw before me, undeniably, was a champion of the weak, a being that could've stood against monsters without the Blessing, and perhaps most importantly of all…

"They're alright, Mikoto-san! They're safe!" A beaming smile split his features. Innocent and lacking in guile. So wide was his grin that his eyes were all but completely closed. Amidst the dust of fallen beasts, a carpet of Monster Crystals innumerable, his happiness was because he saved the last of my Familia. The skill, power, and ability that he displayed was all meaningless. The reason for his jubilation was entirely because he believed he was happy to have saved my Familia for me… someone he has just met. Skipping past the remains, the smile on his face and the kindness in his eyes warms me to my core. "You saved them, Mikoto-san!"

Bell Cranel was my Hero.

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