Fever Beat

As the princesses' eyes turned to Roko, they found a frighteningly bloody battle occurring. Distol who only knew the basics of combat and Roko who had little experience in a fight with anything other than a sword. Any tactics either of them would try to employ would be countered by the other, the fight devolving into a bloody melee where the two would throw and take punches without concern for blocking and dodging. In this short time the two scarily aggressive men were bloodied and tired, both of them only able to put a fraction of their strength behind their punches but still too stubborn to yield to the other. They staggered around each other, lifting and throwing weak punches only to put their strength in at the last second to hit the other square in the face. There was no doubt that what the girls have experienced this night was much worse but there was a visceral brutality between the two's fight that made it hard to watch.

"We have to help." Helena said as she pulled to her feet and pointed at finger at Distol, trying to form one last shard of ice.

"Don't!" Roko called loudly and demanding enough to make Helena falter.

Roko kept his eyes on Distol, neither letting down their guard for a second and both seemingly committed to fighting til the end. Until Roko spoke up,

"Your entire staff's gone now, Distol. You really don't think you can beat us now do you?"

"Even if I am alone..." Distol gasped, "Even if I have to give up my life...I will not stop..."

"That's fine and all but do you really think that's a good idea? Think about it. Would she really wa-"

"You dare speak like you know what she wants?!" Distol cried, enraged, "You don't know a thing about her!"

"I don't. All I know is that anybody worth going this far for wouldn't want it to have come to this."

"..."

"Am I wrong?"

"...I will not stop. My father stopped. He gave up. I'm not going to abandon her! No matter what it takes to being her back. I will succeed where my father failed."

"..."

"No matter how many people I have to sacrifice. No matter how many people...I have to beat!"

Distol ran forward to try and punch Roko but his sluggish movements telegraphed so much of the attack in advance that Roko was able to easily side stepped it. Roko pushed to throw his own punch right into Distol's stomach, where he couldn't see, but Distol anticipated that, tilting his body to the side to avoid Roko's slow attack. As Distol pulled his body to the side, he also pulled his other fist back, aiming a punch straight into Roko's face. To the girl's shock and horror, Distol's punch collided right into Roko's nose, knocking him back as he grabbed his face in pain.

"Roko!" Helena cried as she quickly stood up.

"Stay back!" Roko ordered again, just as forcefully.

Helena hesitated again and it slowly became clear to the girls that Roko's insistence on not having any help wasn't a matter of their safety but a matter of respect to the battered Distol. As Roko wiped away a bit of blood that trickled out of his nose, he roared as he ran back towards Distol. The two began an exchange of punches that neither tried to block, each landing blow after blow on the other's head, each pushing through the pain and discombobulation to throw another attack. It was brutal and it seemed like no clear winner would emerge as the two seemed equally matched until Distol landed an uppercut on Roko's jaw, knocking the otherworlder's head up and forcing him a few steps back. Roko's body hung there for a moment, fighting the urge to fall both onto the ground and into unconsciousness. Distol took the opportunity to step in and try to land a decisive blow. But Roko forced his body back onto the ground and lunged in as well. Roko's fist went up, knocking Distol's attack to the side, landing his own punch into Distol's face. But when Roko tried to put more power into it, he stumbled forward in his exhaustion, winding his arm even further back until Roko finally punched, knocking Distol off his feet as Roko soared past him. As Distol landed flat on his back, Roko stumbled again and tumbled over before falling on his side himself.

Unable to watch anymore, Corissa and Helena rushed to Roko's side with Kaguya carrying Momo towards him as well. Corissa pulled Roko's head onto her lap as Helena began slapping lightly on Roko's cheeks, calling his name as if to call him back to his senses. Unfortunately, Roko was still conscious but he was so tired at he could only snarl in a frustrated, annoyed way that was enough to get Helena to stop. Roko struggled to push his torso alone up but Corissa quickly rushed in close to support him up as Roko looked down at Distol on the ground.

"You lost." Roko grimaced, "Stop it now."

Distol laid there silently for a few seconds before he chuckled softly a little, "All I have to do...is wait until the parasidea takes all your lives. Then...then I'll win..."

"Then how about I tell you how I'll save everyone."

"How?"

"By killing you."

Corissa and Helena immediately looked concerned but didn't say anything as Roko continued,

"These flowers have a will behind them. You know they do, don't you? You twisted their abilities and tied them to your will. If I kill you, I'm sure these flowers will be more than happy to defy you."

"And you think they'll just die? What if they rampage and kill everyone immediately?"

"If that happens, she would definitely not survive either."

"..."

"This is your chance to avert mutual destruction. Even if you sacrifice everyone here, I will still be around and you won't. What do you think is going to happen to her? Who's going to be around to protect her then?"

Distol scowled, biting his lip hard enough to draw a bit of blood.

"What will you do? What can you still do?"

"..." Distol sat up a bit unevenly with his back turned to Roko. He reached into his coat pocket...and pulled out a vial.

"I...will bring her back." Distol said as he to Roko with a scornful look on his face, "No matter what. I'll show you, father...I was never wrong."

Now that Distol was facing him, Roko could see some sort of seed floating in the middle of the vial. Just a Roko realized what that seed must be, Distol ripped the cork off and drank the entire vial, swallowing the seed into his body.

The effects were immediate as Distol's veins began to turn green and even break out of his skin. Roko's group could only look on in horror as plant-like tendrils broke out and wrapped over Distol's entire body as he laughed like an exhausted madman.

"I...will not fail..."

Distol said his last words and flowers, vibrant Parasideas bloomed all across his body until you could barely see any bit of the body underneath. Distol's breathing stopped and his body became still, held up by the mass of roots and flowers all over his body. In a small part of their brain, the girls noticed the flowers on their hands wilting and disappearing into dust. But the flowers over Distol's body remained, almost glowing in eerie health.

"Roko..." Kaguya gulped, "What's going on?"

"...Follow me and I'll show you." Roko sighed as he stood up.

Roko brought them up to the atelier behind the stairs. Where he had sneaked in from. The roots that Roko saw all over the stairs were still here, the last bits of waning energy energy flowing through them, going up the stairs and collecting into atelier. The atelier room itself was covered all over in those same roots, the plant having long taken over the place as it's own. The room was furnished with tables and chairs and books with sheets of paper strewn about randomly. There were a few boxes or crates stacked neatly in the corners but the roots had laid claim to them already. And in the center of the room, at the very back, in the middle of the source of all these tendrils was a bed with a young girl lying on it. Helena, Corissa, Kaguya and Momo all approached the bed, transfixed by the sight before them. The roots all lead here, over the bed and under the sheets. The last of the stolen energy was pulled into this girl's body before everything became still once more and the girls turned to look back at Roko for an explanation.

"This is Glint." Roko sighed, "Distol's little sister. A long time ago, she became sick with an illness that nobody's been able to cure at a very young age. It took all of the Oarbine family's resources to keep her alive though in a comatose state. Ragnum was looking for a way to fully cure her, these parties being a pretense to search for any possibility for a cure. They did everything from gathering illegal material to human experimentation but they couldn't find a cure no matter how they tried. Eventually Ragnum gave up looking for a cure. Even contemplated letting Glint pass on. Distol was in complete disagreement, wanting to go even further with the research. The two butted heads on this until eventually, Distol killed his own father and took over the care that Ragnum had abandoned. With him at the head, Distol funneled all he could into looking for a cure and he came across the Parasidea."

"These flowers..." Momo spoke up, "Does it have anything to do with the tree back in Momokami?"

"Most likely." Roko nodded, "I can't imagine there are normal plants with the properties we've seen today. Much of the records in this room described their research as wrestling with an unknown intelligence. Even with all the engineering that Distol put into it, the most he managed to do was forcibly control the energy it absorbed and change its physical appearance to mimic the Paradisea."

"So..." Corissa looked down at the still comatose girl, "Is she going to wake up?"

"If Distol's plan worked, she should." Roko sighed, "But there's no guarantee that it will. I couldn't quite understand everything written in the books and papers here. Even if she does wake up she might not be the same person. She's already been deeply affected by this foreign element. Just look at her hair."

Corissa looked at the young girl's hair, pure white like other people they've combated like Bedlam. But looking at her sleeping face, Corissa could only see a young girl only a year or two older than Aida, left with no family to take care of her. Perhaps it might actually be best if she stayed asleep. But…

Corissa reached out and brushed some long strands of white hair from the girl's face when a thought crossed her mind. She didn't expect anything but she saw no harm in entertaining it for a brief moment. Even if it could only do something as simple as changing her hair back, it was worth trying.

"Holy."

Everyone stumbled back as a sudden gentle force burst out from Corissa's hand, disintegrating the roots that entangled the bed and even turning the hair back into a light brown color. Corissa looked the most shocked out of all of them but before anyone could say anything, the girl opened her eyes.

"Huh?" the young girl battered her eyes sleepily, "Where am I?"

Now in even more of a panic, the group all looked at each other as if to try and silently confer except for Helena who quickly leaned forward with a concerned look on her face, "D-Do you remember your name?!"

"Name?" She repeated, "My name...what's my name..."

"Does Glint mean anything to you?"

"Glint..." the young girl said as a soft smile came to her face, "That's right...I'm Glint Locke Oarbine."

"Do you remember anything before you woke up?" Roko quickly spoke up, "What's the last thing you recall?"

"The last thing?" Glint mused, "I feel like...I've been asleep for a long time...but there was a voice...a scary voice saying to give back what I've taken...I don't know who it was but...I was suddenly pulled away and...I woke up here..."

Everyone looked at each other in grim understanding though the knowledge didn't do much to answer any of their bigger questions.

"Umm..." Glint spoke up, "Who are you all? Are you...doctors? Where's my father? Where's my brother?"

Now true terror and dismay seized the party as they all tried to decide who and how to break the events of the very fresh and recent night to her.

"Please. Allow me."

Everyone spun in ever increasing surprise and panic towards the entrance of the atelier. There, a slightly battered and bleeding head butler stood there with a profound sadness in his eyes. It was impossible to tell what cocktail of emotions he must be feeling at this moment but the butler continued to look at them with a humble pleading look on his face as he bowed deeply to Roko's group.

"Please." He repeated.

"Walter?" Glint said, turning her small head at the sound of someone she recognized, "Walter is that you? I'm sorry, I can't see that well right now. Are you there?"

Roko and the group shared one more look at each other but they all knew what to do.

"Come on." Roko said as he began to walk away from them, "We need to make sure everyone else is okay as well."

It was the break of dawn when Roko and company finally left the mansion. The process of checking everyone's safety, explaining what happened, and comforting everyone on top of the fighting they had endured left Roko's group the most tired they had ever felt. Even as they waited outside for the authorities, Roko's group continued to make sure everything was running smoothly.

"I've contacted Zadkiel." Kaguya reported as she walked up to a tired Roko standing at the mansion gates, "They should be here soon. The Macarthan authorities should arrive not long after. With any luck, Zadkiel should be able to smuggle at least Glint away safely."

"I see..." Roko replied exhausted, "Is there anybody to accompany her?"

"Walter, Joseph and Jeremy all want to help Glint, but...it's not going to be easy to get them out from the eyes of the victims."

"There are a pair of twin maids. Rune and Plume. If they haven't moved, they'd be outside the library. I'm sure they'll be willing to help Glint as well."

"Hmmmm? Sounds like there's a story behind that. Care to share it?"

"Another time please."

"Hehehehe. Good news is that we've already found them and escorted them away. Bad news is, it wasn't quite as secret as we would have liked. They insisted on seeing Glint for themselves and so we had to take them through the party hall where all the victims were. I don't know how many people we managed to convince they weren't involved."

"There was a rope they could have used to get in from the back."

"Yes, we noticed it after we brought the twins there. I assume that was your doing? Well, it's fine. Treating you and Momo's injuries was more important anyway."

"Do we know what's going to happen to Distol's body?"

"Oh, that's a whole headache and a half. There's the Oarbine staff asking for it to be properly buried, Zadkiel requesting it be transferred over to her before the authorities get here and who knows what the actual authorities will make of everything once they get here. Nobody really knows what to do and there's not much time left before the Macarthan police gets here."

"Sounds like a pain."

"Got any advice?" Kaguya asked, "It's certainly a valuable specimen. Potentially dangerous."

"We have them help each other." Roko replied, "Tell Zadkiel she can have Distol's body for research so long as someone from his estate is there to monitor how it's being used. Who and how they'll get this person away from the incident is on them. Let her sort it out."

"Enough thought to satisfy both parties but still leaving the brunt work to others." Kaguya nodded, "I can get behind that."

"Anything else we need to handle before we leave?"

"Nope. We can leave the rest to the authorities." Kaguya sighed, "We've done enough for tonight. We can go back to Macartha and go to sleep. Corissa, Helena, Momo and Melia will be here soon. We can leave once-"

"Kaguya!"

Right on time, the other girls arrived at the mansion gate where they were waiting with Momo resting peacefully on Corissa's back.

"Is she not too heavy for you, Corissa?" Kaguya asked.

"I-it's fine!" Corissa smiled as best she could, "I was the only one to escape the Parasidea so I'm the best suited for this job."

"Still, we should probably get her onto the carriage quickly." Helena smirked, "Poor Corissa's not built for this."

"I-I'm fine!" Corissa quickly said despite clearly struggling a little with her burden.

"Unfortunately..." Kaguya sighed, "We're not allowed to take the carriages."

"What?!" Melia cried, "But it's like an hour long walk back to Macartha!"

"They don't want the crime scene disturbed apparently." Kaguya explained, "But we might be able to run into the Macarthan police on the way down and they can give us a ride for the rest of the way down."

"They better." Helena crossed her arms, "After all we've been through."

"Let's get going now." Melia sighed, "I'm having dreams of a nice soft bed already."

"You got a room in Macartha, Melia?" Helena asked as everyone began walking away from the mansion.

"Oh geez, I don't. Noooooo..."

"It's okay, you can sleep with me."

"Oh, really? Thanks, Helena, that's-"

"Can't you just get another room?"

Roko was silently following the group when he saw something in the shadows of the woods.

"...Sorry guys, I have something I have to do." Roko spoke up, as everyone stopped and turned to look at him.

"Forgot something at the castle?" Helena yawned, "Will it take long?"

"No, it's fine, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up eventually."

"But what if we catch up with the Macarthans early and they give us a ride without you?"

"I'll walk back, it's fine."

"Oh. Well alright. If you…'re..." Helena's voice trailed off as Roko walked into the forest.

"Heyo." Olivia grinned slyly as Roko walked into the small clearing away from the main road, "Miss me?

"I was wondering where you went." Roko crossed his arms, "I'm surprised you're still around."

"Hey, I just had to congratulate you on doing so well tonight. You stopped evil and saved everyone's lives! You're a hero!"

"Not everybody." Roko replied grimly.

"Wait, what?"

"Kitt is dead."

"Kitt..." Olivia thought for a moment, "That was the bullied girl right? What happened?"

"She found her Parasidea. So she had both hers and mine when everything began. Her energy was drained twice as fast. She was dead before I even arrived."

"Yikes. I mean, it's not your fault though. You couldn't have predicted that."

Roko stayed silent, looking down sullenly.

"Well I guess that's not going to help cheer you up anyway." Olivia chuckled, "Still, you did pretty damn well all things considered."

"And what about you?" Roko asked, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yep!" Olivia held up a small leather book, "It's no grimoire but it's just as good."

"So you were looking for a grimoire all along." Roko sighed, "I suspected as much."

"And I had an inkling you knew what a grimoire was." Olivia smirked, "Looks like we're both pretty accurate skeptics."

"Well, if that isn't a grimoire, what is it?"

"It's a journal." Olivia explained, "Records of the discovery of the Parasidea, or the flower that would become a Parasidea. Experimentation, research details. All sorts of stuff. Should be quite useful."

"Oh yeah? Lucky you."

"You're not going to fight me for this book?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood?" Roko sighed, "No, you can take it. I'll even keep quiet about it."

"Wow, how generous." Olivia raised an eyebrow, "I really must thank you then. Not just for this but for all your help last night. I do hope we get the chance to work together again."

"Seems like a pain so I'll pass."

"Awww. What, do you not like how I keep so many secrets? How about I reveal one more thing before we leave? For the sake of our future endeavors."

Olivia began floating in midair as sizable black bat like wings sprouted from her back, a thin tail tipped with a heart shaped arrow flicked out from behind her and small smooth horns sprouted out from her head.

"Let me reintroduce myself." She said with a fiendish smirk as she floated a few feet into the air, "My name is Olivia. I am the Maleficent Demon of Deliverance! The Sunsetter, Olivia!"

….

"Uh huh."

"Wait, did you know?!" Olivia cried, "How?! How did you know?!"

"I have this spell. It tells me your name and spells. I have this other spell. It tells me that you were using a disguise spell and that you were actually a demon."

"I've never heard of any spell like that!"

"Yeah, you wouldn't have."

"I...you..."

"By the way, would you happen to know of a demon called Alder?"

"Old teacher's pet Alder?" Olivia asked curiously, "Yeah sure. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just curious. He and I had a fight a long time ago."

"Wait, did you win?"

"Sort of. I killed him once but he came back to life."

"Wow, that's actually impressive." Olivia nodded, "How'd you do it?"

"Dude's weak against fire."

"No shot, seriously? Fire's like the first spell all demons learn. No wonder he was always a bit testy."

"Well if you're going to bully him, you have my permission."

"Wow, what did he do to you?"

"Nothing, I just hate the guy he's contracted with."

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. I just hate his guts."

"You know, I've been thinking it for a while but you're kind of petty."

"I don't want to hear it from someone who can barely do a basic infiltration mission."

"Oh you want to get into this?! I know you were winging it too!"

"Yeah, cause I didn't know I might have to fight until I got here. What's your excuse? You took the identity of a relevant person as cover and didn't even use it when I confronted you?"

"N-No! I-I was giving a fake name so that my cover wasn't blown! It's what the guy I was pretending to be would do!"

"You're using his image as cover, you're not actually trying to become the person. This isn't a school play, you're trying to throw off suspicion."

"It all worked out in the end anyway!"

"Oh you mean like that disguise spell that weakened after one fight? You want to explain how that happened to me?"

"Do I have to remind you that I'm a freaking demon, mister?!"

"Yeah, I knew that the first time we met. You have any other secrets you want to tell me? Maybe you actually have something you're good at? Because from what I've seen, you're not nearly as great as all those titles you have want to make you seem."

"Goddammit, I figured revealing that I was a demon would finally get you to show me some respect!"

"Is that how you normally get people to respect you?"

"No, you know what, I'm leaving!" Olivia shouted as she began floating up, "I hope I never meet you again you meanie!"

"Then you better start getting better at your job quick, ms demon." Roko crossed his arms.

"Go jump off a cliff!"