Blade On Big Bang

The tides of the battle had been changing. The dead bodies of the lions they killed were melting into smaller mobs that were starting to overrun the city. At the moment though, their numbers were still growing. It was imperative to remove the corpses leaking monsters and tighten their defenses around the great tree. As the tree itself was now the entirety of the Dryadalis Mors Moratorium, it was more important than ever. Though with all the changes to its functions, it probably deserved a name change. The king had been thinking of a few different names but now wasn't the time to consider them. Now he had to burn away the corpses inside the square as the remaining elves widened their defenses. The sky rifts had been repaired, at least the ones closest to the tree. Though there may no longer be a way of saving the Tree Cradle now that it's been discovered. Yet abandoning it was unthinkable. Then again, so was the idea of betrayal at the highest level of military governance, at least to the general masses. The king thought to give his thanks to Hyacinth and Borage in the afterlife. The way they handled their rebellion was so discreet. They did not make themselves the new heads of the movement as their power would easily allow. They didn't even necessarily act in support of the rebellion. They turned the rebellion into a struggle for survival and then died quietly alongside their friends. Quiet...might not be the most correct term as the king was able to see hints of their fights even from afar. He wasn't there to witness all of it but he could tell when the four had died. He owed a great debt to Nasturtium and Scabius. The two agreed to stand by him but in exchange, they asked for their lives to be removed from the system, to die a proper death with their former companions. It was not like the king didn't understand their feelings. A fight as important as this meant nothing if they knew they would come back again anyway. The king understood everything. He had seen how everything would play out, at least of how one version of it would. Everything was...within expectations. And now the time had come for the last, unpredictable hurtle.

Roko found the elven king wandering around the square in front of the tree. The king didn't seem particularly worried about the situation. Which meant he hadn't visited the elves' expanded defensive lines. The monsters were attacking from all sides and their numbers were starting to build up. If he wanted to get rid of the threat, he'd have to send people out to destroy the remaining corpses spewing out monsters and fix the remaining sky rifts that were dropping lions occasionally. Something that could easily be done by using the roofs to traverse the cradle instead, something that Roko's group had taken to using themselves to help stem the assault. The square may seem peaceful now but if Roko's group slacked off to watch the fight, they might be overrun without them even noticing. But the king's attention didn't seem like it was on the situation at hand. He was waiting. Roko wasn't sure why but he was waiting. For the elf that finally arrived from the shadows of the buildings.

"Zinnia." The king said without even turning to look at his royal guard, "I've been expecting you."

"Were you waiting all this time?"

"Ah well the cradle finally seems to have calmed down so I figured I'd give you a chance to show yourself." The king said as he finally turned to look at the elf, "Although...yes. I have been anticipating you."

"...The other members of the Hyssop Circle are dead."

"I know." The king closed his eyes, "I must find time to mourn them later."

"Even Hyacinth and Borage?"

"Of course. The other elves may have started treating the dark elves poorly but that was never my intention. Why do you think that happened, Zinnia? Was there something I missed? Is this just the true nature of our race? To abuse and enslave those with lesser power?"

"I don't know."

"Haha. That's typical of you. You never were one to wax poetic. Then...what are you doing here? Are you here to oppose me as well?"

Zinnia stared at his king. His expression was utterly unreadable. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking yet the king seemed to take this silence as something of great importance, the anticipation building palpably in the wait.

"I have questions for you."

"Oh? Go on then. I figured the one you asked back in the control room wasn't your only one."

"What is an elf?"

The king blink, surprised at the simplicity of the question, "Hmmmmmm… That is one hell of question. I didn't think you'd be interested in the minutia of definitions. After I said you weren't one to wax poetic too."

"Then let me rephrase. What is an elf to you?"

"That doesn't make it much easier. Hmm...an elf...is a soldier of the world. One whose service lasts a lifetime and even extends beyond death. A sad and pitiful creature whose life is tied to the fate of the world. More than most. When the world is twisted so are the lives of the elves to fix it. An elf is one so tied to life and nature that we suffer when the world suffers. Only by taking care of the world will we find peace in our lives."

"And does that exclude the dark elves?"

"Hmmm. Your questions certainly wastes no time cutting to the core." The king sighed, "To be honest, I never saw the dark elves as anything more than a tool to differentiate those affected by the new system. The unfair treatment was something born of society."

"You've said that before. But you never stated what you intended the relationship to be like."

"I honestly never gave it much thought. I figured I'd let it develop naturally and leave it at that."

"That's negligence."

"Mmm...perhaps. But I like to think that my attention was more...hyper focused on other important aspects."

"...Then since you dance around the question so much, I'll ask you directly. Is how the dark elves are being treated acceptable to you?"

"...Actions speak louder than words, my friend. Words only mean something in a court or in public. Especially so the more influential you become. So don't make me say it, old friend."

"..."

"Though I must know, why do you ask?"

"I want to know...what is worth protecting."

"Then you should know well that simple questions won't give you an answer in such muddy matters. You always learned more from the battlefield than from peace talks. If you need to, I can be your opponent."

Zinnia stared at the king, considering his offer for a moment before he reached for his sword.

"That's right Zinnia." The king said as he drew his sword as well, "There's no need to fear what you're fighting for. The battlefield holds answers truer than any discussion. So don't be afraid to make enemies with even old friends."

The king pointed his sword at Zinnia who looked back with a hint of defiance. The two seemed to share a connection that Roko couldn't hazard a guess to. While it was hard to imagine Zinnia with any sort of genuine connection with anyone, the king was someone who clearly had great ambition and charisma. What did these two share?

Without even a hint of a tell, the king fired a laser, a light spell, from the tip of his sword at Zinnia. The beam that had torn through everything in its path before dissipated into sparks that died away when it came close to Zinnia. The soldier began to step towards the king, pushing back the laser without even lifting a finger. When it became clear that the laser wasn't going to work, the king quelled his spell and stepped forward to swing at Zinnia. But when Zinnia met the blade with his own, a shattered magical construct was thrown away from the sword and an immense light around it died. Both things Roko hadn't seen before the connection, only noticing them in their deaths. It was magic. Powerful magic that had been dismantled without any hint as to how. It was clear that this was what they had discussed before.

"Your countermagic expertise is always a treat to witness." The king smiled as they pushed their swords against each other, "I can't imagine another soul who can read the construction of a spell so well and immediately create an opposite force to counter it. Every spell is unique to it's user but you can read even that and respond to it without mistake. That's what people don't understand about you. You can read people without ever even having a conversation with them. You don't even craft an opposite spell, you simply send an opposing frequency of pure mana to deconstruct it. You truly are as talented as the day we met."

The king pushed Zinnia away and raised his sword again, surrounding the blade with a powerful light.

"But...even you have your limits!"

The king slashed, the light blasting off into separate slashes that flew towards Zinnia. Zinnia brought his blade up for defense but the blades disappeared when they came close to Zinnia again. But this time, the slashes were coming closer and closer to Zinnia before disappearing. Eventually, the slashes finally managed to cut niches into his armor as the elf struggled to minimize the damage.

"If one constructs an overly complex spell, they can reach you before you can construct the counter. With enough of these mix ups, even you can't counter every spell thrown at you! And furthermore..."

The king took his sword in both his hands and blasted a giant laser out from the blade that stood nearly half the height of the great tree. The king swung this light at Zinnia who quickly jumped up as dozens of empty houses around them were suddenly destroyed by the light. Roko even had to duck to avoid getting hit even though the memory of the king's spell probably wouldn't have affected him.

"If one attacks with a magnitude that you can't manage, you won't be able to counter that either." The king explained as the light from his sword died away, "Those are the weakness of your countermagic."

Zinnia stood up, his face showing no reaction as he continued to point his sword at the king.

"But you've always knew that didn't you?" The king chuckled, "The complexity issue can be overcome with skill and the magnitude one would call upon so much mana that it would be unsustainable for anyone to maintain. Perhaps you've faced a few opponents that can do one of these on the rare occasion...but you've never faced someone who can do both, can you?"

Zinnia's eyes widened as electrical sparks suddenly appeared around him. With a snap of the king's fingers, he was suddenly blasted with an enormous lightning bolt from the sky. Zinnia staggered about, the bolt having left him a bit fried but he had managed to mitigate most of the damage though not all of it. But just as he was recovering, the king snapped again and the earth suddenly lifted into chunks that surrounded him before they all were thrown inwards at him. Zinnia made a circular slash that reduced the chunks into piles of dirt but the dirt still carried enough velocity to blast him from all sides, forcing Zinnia to close his eyes. With another snap of the fingers, the king summoned a whirlpool or water at Zinnia's feet that pulled at his feet, it's sides rising to yank at his limbs as it surrounded him. The elf struggled to maintain his footing, eventually succumbing to the rapids as he was lifted off his feet and thrown into the wild spiral. With a snap, the water suddenly turned into wind, lifting Zinnia even higher before turning about and plunging him towards the earth. With Zinnia trapped by the winds, Zinnia struggled to pull away before he finally managed to dispel the wind fast enough for him to flip himself and land on his feet, grinding his feet several meters across the ground before he managed to stop.

"How is it?" The king asked as he stepped towards Zinnia, his arm surrounded by a giant glowing magical armament, "Have you figured anything out in your weakness? I don't expect you to fight at your best while burdened with doubt so as your friend, I'll give you the grace of a bit of rest...but as your king..."

The elf king raised his enhanced arm, "I don't want to give you too easy a time."

The arm swung down at Zinnia but the phantom limb dissipated into particles as the king's fist swung safely over Zinnia's head.

"Oho?"

Zinnia pushed himself up and thrust his sword up at the king who stepped back, leaving the range of the sword by inches.

"Good...good!" The king grinned as Zinnia swung wildly at him, "You're learning! Then let me move onto the next lesson! Can you counter such spells at such a close range?!"

The king filled his sword and arm with magic and returned Zinnia's assault with his own. Zinnia's attacks turned to defense as he defended from both of the king's spells. He would regularly dispel the magic from one attack only to barely be able to defend from the other. Things got even worse when the king summoned multiple magical constructs of swords to attack independent from his own. The king's onslaught was relentless and only stopped when the king landed a punch right into Zinnia's sternum. Zinnia was sent flying back as several sword projections stabbed into his body. And yet the elf regained his footing and stood fast without ever falling. The blades that had cut into him fell off, their tips dispelled before they could reach him. Zinnia stood there, slightly exhausted but no injuries to be found across his body. In comparison, the king stood, winded but still in an odd exhilaration in his eyes and a knowing smile that had never left his lips,

"How was it? This was the power I obtained by watching you. Do forgive me but I can't help but wonder how someone may beat you after being around you for so long. It's just a little bit of mischief, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to utilizing them. For what it's worth, your performance has been quite good. I tried to utilize other casting styles to throw you off but you adjusted very quickly. However, I still think you can do better than that. So let's continue for a bit longer shall we?"

Zinnia straightened himself up, wiping away a bit of blood from his cheek, "You...are not convinced of your own path."

"...Ah yes." The king sighed, "I was having so much fun, I forgot that was what we were doing."

"You're distracting yourself. You don't want to think about the state of things...no...you have thought about it...but you've given up on deciding for yourself. Why?"

"...History isn't decided by who it's written about. The people's perception is the only thing that matters in how history endures. And even that can change in time."

"I don't care how history remembers you. I don't care if you'll be seen as a tyrant or a visionary. I want to know why you stopped considering the morality of your own actions. Why act if you don't know if it's the right thing to do or not?"

"Morality matters when there is a choice to be made. However, when choice is limited such as in wartime, morality has to be eschewed."

"That's just an excuse. I don't want to know what other people think. I don't want to know why you think you did what you did. I want to know why you've given up on yourself."

The king and his knight stared at each other, each equally unreadable though the comfort in the king's smile has faltered a bit.

"Why you say? Who knows?" The king smirked.

"Is it because of Lycoris?"

The king froze, his gaze dropping to look off into a blank space. For a moment, he was trapped in his thoughts before he finally replied, "What do you plan on achieving with this line of question?"

"I want to know why you did this."

"For what reason? Do you plan on killing me? Do you fight for the dark elves? For some greater sense of justice? Do you even know why you fight?"

"..."

"We do things we can't quite explain all the time. We do it because we think it's the right thing to do. Because it's what we want to do. That's all."

"Except your actions are devoid of ethical consideration. You know you're in conflict with yourself but instead of resolving it, you've given up on it. You act like someone subjected to fate rather than one in control of it. That's unlike you."

"...You're more perceptive than I thought." The king sighed.

"Answer me. What's going on?"

"...If you beat me, I'll answer you." The king replied as he raised his sword, "Something that I doubt you're actually capable of but perhaps you can surprise me."

The king summoned light magic to surround his blade again but even as it began to gather together, it immediately flickered away until the sword was left alone and unenchanted.

"What?"

"Countermagic turns spells back into mana." Zinnia explained, "When internal mana is spent to cast it, the excess is left in the atmosphere...leaving me to control it and counter spells even as they are being constructed. A little like an anti-magic field. It's a little technique I came up with but never had the chance to put into practice...since I never had to counter spells of that high a quantity...or quality."

"Heh." The excited smile returned to the king, "Hahaha! That's one hell of a secret technique to keep up your sleeve. However...aren't you forgetting something? Having this much mana in the air to counter my spells is handy but with this much mana in the environment, we're going to reach the Quintessence Dissolution Limit pretty soon. Remaining here will be poison to our souls."

"I never said I wanted to use this technique."

"Haha. Fair. Well then, if magic's off the table, then we're just reduced to swordplay. Perhaps you might be able to win that contest. However, you've forgotten something else. Do you remember what blade you have with you?"

Zinnia seemed to consider the question for a moment before the king struck. His sword swung out suddenly but Zinnia was quick enough to block his attack. The king's sword struck again and again with sharp precision and force. Zinnia was able to deftly block each attack but it wasn't long until the king made a straight jab at him and Zinnia blocked with the flat of his sword. The moment the swords made contact, Zinnia's sword cracked and broke at the base of the blade, destroying it and throwing Zinnia back a few feet.

"Do you remember this sword?" The king asked, "We saved a human country called Kojinori. In repayment, they forged a sword for us, the Stygian Bloom. It was a big problem as it was made by the country's own king, making it a difficult gift to refuse but at the same time, the elves already had an ancestral sword that was reserved only for the ruling king, the Basileum Flos. As I only wield one sword, it became a matter among the elves and humans of which sword I will use. Using the Stygian Bloom would be a great show of alliance between the elves and the humans in the on going war but that would mean setting aside the long held proud tradition of the elves."

"..."

"In the end, I decided. I was someone who looked towards the future. Someone who welcomed change in hope for the end of the trials of today. The Stygian Bloom is a magnificently crafted blade. The humans have a way of turning all the myriad things they do into some sort of art at the very least. It's served me well. If you wanted to face me in swordplay you should at least retrieve Basileum Flos first."

And with that, the king unleashed a quick enhanced kick into Zinnia's chest, sending him flying straight up into the air. And in an instant, the king had jumped an equal distance up into the air and sent Zinnia flying through the air with another kick.

Zinnia crashed on the ground near the edge of the Tree Cradle. He moaned and grunted as he pushed himself up, his spirit still unbroken. And that's when he saw it. The sword in the stone. It had been so long that everyone probably forgot but it was still there, undrawn. Zinnia crawled forward, pulling himself up using the sword but he delayed pulling on it. The king had enchanted it with some sort of magic to prevent it from being drawn. Honestly, it was entirely possible that the king had just enchanted it to make it unable to be drawn by anyone else. It was just a distraction for the kids after all. What sort of character would the king even be seeking with this sort of enchantment? Was it even possible for Zinnia to pull this sword where everyone else had failed?

Without time to contemplate further, the king landed not far from him.

"Go on then." The king smiled, "Give it a shot."

With a grunt Zinnia pulled himself fully up, standing in front of the sword with his doubts clouding his mind. But in the end, he gritted his teeth, grasped the handle of the sword and smoothly drew the Basileum Flos from the stone. Turning around, he pointed this ancestral sword at the rightful king of the elves. Who just smiled back at him.