Stage II

A Debt Repaid

Act 10

Alexander’s hand pulled from Sylver’s gut, leaving the lad to fall forward to the slayer’s side. Crashing in the mud and rock, a gasp leaving him, his eyes going wild momentarily and then… silence. Alexander positioned him, throwing his arm out and then lowering it. Blood still trailed from his torn open shoulder wound.

He looked down upon the body… and then looked up. Providence, two guards, the sergeant, and only a handful of troopers. Behind, Almec. Almec shaped himself, arms ready.

“I think I’ve proven my point, have I not?” Alexander posed.

“Nrrrhhhh-” Almec grumbled.

“They died because… I grew bored. Now Almec, I’ll ask you again after I… point out the painfully obvious that is. In your base form you are A-Rank tops. To face me you would need to undo your lock; but you and I both know that that’ll shorten your life even further. Rather inconvenient, wouldn’t you say? So- would you instead simply back off and let me do what it is that I am here to do? Or will you die like them?”

Almec’s right arm flew up and flung forward, his feet stomping down, “YAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

Alexander in response spun round with a single bound, his right foot flying out. CRASH- straight into Almec’s gut like a cannon ball. The elder man shot back and slammed straight through the ruble of the very wall that he had blown to pieces just moments prior. More wood, more flooring, more of the overall building gave way and imploded near immediately.

“Nrrrgh-” Alex grunted as his foot lowered, stumbling a tad.

His right hand moved across to find his left shoulder, grabbing hold. Black threads and tendrils erupted from the wound, moving quickly into the flesh of the half-torn arm. Digging in and pulling back, soon popping everything back into place. A slow bit of regeneration, new flesh growing over the old, slithering like snakes.

Though it did not heal up, it did anchor itself, fake muscle between real muscle and the wound closed. He looked to the wound, then back straight into the collapsing structure. The ruble shifted, exploding off of him with a yowl. Almec stumbled up, bleeding again.

“Gyeh-”

“Hmph…”

Alexander spun again, his attention now solely on the pillar of earth, his sights climbing. There atop- the absolute lot of them. A slight smirk.

Brrrrrz-

Almec’s head shot up, “No!”

Brrrrrz-

Brrrrrz!!

Alexander appeared atop the pillar. The children stood before him, the guards stood before him, Providence and his sergeant stood before him. A little bit of a tilt of the head and-

Brrrrrz!!

Almec appeared right behind, a red orb in hand being thrust forward with his right. Alex’s head turned just as the attack slammed into his back. The twisting grind of the energy blast, the force. With a yowl he blasted forward straight into the three soldiers and narrowly missing the kids.

Providence shot down with the sergeant, Alex flying overhead. The three guards screamed as they went over, splatting down on the ground below. Alexander flipped around, and again pressed with the Sonido. Providence stood up, the sound of a Sonido just behind him.

SLAM

“GRRRRYEEEH, HRRRRUGH!!!”

A hand passed out of his chest, holding within its reach the still beating heart of the Lord. Alexander’s head rest upon the man’s shoulder, turning ever so to whisper-

“For all those whom you have ordered dead, My Lord.”

Alexander’s hand pulled back, the heart going with. Providence stumbled, slowly collapsing off to the right. Alex looked down, they all looked down, and then he looked up as they all looked up.

“Next?”

“There’s no winning here… but we’re all- Almec,” Danielle murmured.

“Yeah?”

“Puh… plan eighteen.”

“Plan eighteen?”

“Plan eighteen.”

“Right… HYAAAAH!”

Almec took hold of the two final guards, hoisting both up by their armor and with his howl he flung both straight ahead. Both bodies crashed into Alexander, all three flying off of the platform.

“ALMEC!” Alexander called out as he was sent flying off the pillar, crashing through the roof just behind with the two guards.

“Almec now!” Danielle yelled.

Almec turned back, taking quick hold of the twins. Danielle leaned forward, her head smacking into his chest.

“Lets get out of here!” Almec called.

“Wait-!!” the sergeant cried out grabbing hold of Almec.

Brrrrrz-

With a warp, Alexander appeared right behind the group with a cero charging from his pointer finger.

“I’ve got it!” Almec called.

“DO IT!!!”

“Zalfreska- Detremeius!”

A pop of light engulfed them, their forms all vanishing, the cero firing the literal same second as everyone connected to Danielle warped. The pillar blew apart, the cero large and vast, vaporizing the rock and what remained atop it. Alexander’s eyes twitched, the cero ceasing as it would seconds after. Finger extended… then his arm lowering back to his side.

“… the hell was that?!”

A flicker of light. The scene, a log cabin in the woods. That was it, there was little else more to elaborate upon. Big tall trees, a dim glow of the night sky and moon, a building made of logs.

Danielle fell from the air and crashed atop the twins. Behind crashed the injured Almec, and then the sergeant a pace to his right. Groans left both William and Raven. The adults pushed themselves up, Almec rolling over with a huff.

The sergeant flailed momentarily, grabbing his drip and forcing himself up. He shot quick, far quicker than the others. His head turned left and then it turned right, then looking back ahead. Danielle sat there in the middle of the floor whilst her allies all rose up.

Will scratched his back with a cough and Raven rubbed her head. Almec pushed himself up, still bleeding.

“… teleportation was a success,” he grumbled.

“T-Teleportation??” the sergeant questioned.

“Yeah, one of the few abilities that Danielle actually still has.”

“B-but the shackles-”

“They block her energy, not mine. Using my body as a medium she was able to connect to this,” he spoke pulling up a small green glowing stone block covered in runes, “It’s a Way Stone. These stones have always been our way out of trouble though we use them sparingly. Alexander will figure it out and use a dimensional blocker spell the next time we run into him I’m willing to bet.”

Danielle turned herself, looking to Almec, “Almec there IS no next time. We were lucky to escape that whole mess.”

“I know,” he grumbled sliding his back against the wall, arms crossed, “How he fights differs greatly from that of his siblings. Not a shot in hell we can beat him if he decides to come after us…”

“The Federation doesn’t have anyone in its ranks capable of fighting an S-Class opponent like that,” the sergeant grumbled, “My superiors aren’t going to like it but, if demons like him are still out there then we need to revamp our special forces.”

“… speaking of Federation,” Danielle murmured, “What are we going to do with him?”

“Wha-?!” the sergeant croaked.

“Nothing. We have a deal, isn’t that right sergeant?” Almec retorted.

“Y-yes. Yes of course! Full pardons all around. Just get me back to an outpost and you’ll get whatever you want, I swear it!” the sergeant begged.

“… just because of what we’ve had to endure, I’m willing to believe you,” Almec grumbled, “We’ll take you to a Federation Base and let you go.”

“Just like that?!” William spat as his gag came off.

“Will-”

“They executed a lot of people and took us hostage! How are we just going to work with them?! We should take him out so he can’t tell his bosses about Dani!”

“It was Lord Providence’s prerogative!” the sergeant barked.

The sergeant looked dead on at them. He looked from Almec to William, then to Raven, and finally Danielle.

“That girl… you can understand WHY we wanted her. She worked for Zero. She worked for Virgil. Zero may be dead but his supporters aren’t. Virgil, he’s definitely still around. That atop everything else she was a part of,” he grumbled, slumping back against the wall and sliding down slow onto his bottom, “It was all worth it until we saw him.”

“… yeah, I bet,” Danielle sighed, looking up to Almec, “Now we’ve got two powerful forces after us, and we don’t even know what Alexander is planning to do.”

“Yeah. Hopefully- hopefully we needn’t find out anytime soon,” Almec spoke.

His arms lowered, his head scanning over.

Alexander stood upon the ground. Mud all around him, broken buildings all around him, fire all around him. His arms at his sides, staring forward as the club before him came crashing down. The collapse, more and more dirt and debris getting sent flying.

His coat flapped in the winds, dust flying all around him. His stern expression holding- a sigh escaping. With the flames erupting back to life he turned about, moving away and heading towards the greater streets. His steps carried him relatively quick.

He moved through the mud, through the broken rock, right around the corner onto cobblestone road again. He moved through, the crowds at last rushing in. He pressed forth through them, people flowing left and right. Like a fish moving upstream though with no detriment to doing so.

“{Well that was an utter waste of time,}” he thought to himself.

He rounded another corner, lanterns hanging. The street, deserted and undisturbed. Only a few blocks from the massive battle that had been, around the corner from crowds going to see, and there was nothing.

“{All I’ve done is reveal myself to the Federation… though perhaps that is to my advantage. The girl should go into hiding now with both Virgil and I lurking around, that should be enough. Buy some time at the very least. Even if they collect the other components it won’t matter if they can’t find her, and knowing Raikor he’ll start training to match me and Vox.}”

He crossed another alleyway, moving both of his hands to his coat pockets, rounding another bend and seamlessly inserting his form into a moving crowd. Along the busy streets of the town, moving as one of them, the white of his coat now totally black with even his hair becoming black, his eyes turning to red. The spades, they faded out, obstructed by the dark.

He moved on, side stepping a collapsed man.

“{Danielle has been dealt with for now… so perhaps it is time for me to move onto the other target. And I do believe I’ll need more than just myself for that one. Heh~ oh the joys of it all. GOD I miss retirement.}”

Alex turned the corner again with the rest of the crowd. Moving like a shadow, unseen, of no attention or mind to anyone at all. He moved and like the ghost he appeared to be, he vanished among the people of the city without an eye to see. For now- it was over.

Thank you guys for checking out Veil of the Lost. Soul Fall as a community project is coming back soon!! Pay attention to the socials, I suppose, and if this ending seemed kinda rushed yeah, cuz things are changing again and I don’t wanna box myself into a corner like the last time where I had to scrap content & chapters.

Hope to see you guys in the Soul Fall server soon for more wild tales, and going forward VotL will go back to being side story content I don’t show in the main project so there’ll be that again. And with that…

END OF STAGE!!