I Decided To Live Forever Just In Case She Ever Woke Up [PKMN X THE LOCKED TOMB]

Climactic Battle Prelude!- 3

It wasn't a big distance between the living quarters and the glorious entrance hall, but it felt like it took them ages; Akari jumping at every noise, looking back over her shoulder every few moments to ensure nothing had happened to Cynthia. Nothing ever did, and the lady adept of the Fourth would assuage her fears with a polite smile every time.

When they turned into the corridor that would bring them to the grand foyer Akari felt her heart spike and she wanted to pull off her skin. She halted. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground and her body refused to let her take another step.

Cynthia placed a hand on her shoulder. Try as she might Akari's voice wouldn't work. This was it. Beyond this threshold Cyrus, the man who had killed her friends, would be lying in wait to spring his trap.

"Miss Cynthia," was all she managed to say, shakily, and the beautiful woman smiled grimly at her, took her hand, and led them both into the foyer. All Akari was able to do was sob in silence.

Her necromancer stood in the centre of the foyer, backlit by the early light of Dominicus filtering through the stained glass window. He looked beautiful, in a sallow, underfed way. As Cynthia approached, his gaze tracked them, but he did not move.

"Cyrus," she greeted him, and he nodded in return. "To what do I owe this meeting?"

Cyrus did not speak to Cynthia, and instead turned to face Akari. Vehemently she shook her head and gripped Cynthia's hand tighter.

"Akari," he said. "Come here now."

There was an uncharacteristic urgency to his voice. His eyes flicked back over to Cynthia and for a moment it looked almost like he was scared of her.

"I don't think you should talk to your cavalier like that, Cyrus the Fourth," Cynthia warned. The tone of her voice, too, was a shock; it sounded like she was teasing him, but not in the playful way Akari had come to be familiar with. She sounded mean.

"Akari, that is not a question. Over here. Now."

When she shook her head again, making no move to leave Cynthia's side, her necromancer stepped forward. This was Cynthia's cue to go . In one swift move Akari and the plan were shoved aside and her rapier stolen from her belt; she fell backwards and crashed into the folding table that had held their keyrings on the first day.

She recovered and jumped quickly back to her feet. Now disarmed, there wasn't anything she could do to help. It seemed Cynthia didn't need her help, though. In perfect form, she had her rapier held against Cyrus' throat. But something was wrong - why wasn't she moving? Slicing the throat of the man who had just tried to kill her?

The answer revealed itself when Cyrus calmly took a step back, and Cynthia lowered the sword to her side. She began to laugh.

"Oh, Cyrus, you sly dog," she said with a broad smile. "You warded the room. I should have known; how silly I feel."

Akari tried to step forward, but found her body frozen. Not in the same way it had earlier; this was entirely her necromancer's doing. She was sequestered off to the side, confined to watch as he killed Cynthia.

"What are you doing? " She cried.

"I should have done this from the beginning," Cyrus began, ignoring Akari to instead direct his ire towards Cynthia. "As soon as I noticed something was amiss."

Cynthia quirked an eyebrow, with a levity not becoming of a woman on the edge of murder. "And what, pray tell, was it that you noticed?"

"The small details. Things I could brush aside as you simply changing in the time we had spent apart. The bust, of course, you had suggested having enlarged long ago. Perhaps you had outgrown your sweet tooth or the excessive eyeliner."