Tales of Berseria The X: Beyond Calamity

Chapter XXIII: The Righteous Side of Hell

Zaveid shoved open Haria's gate. The air reeked of misery and desperation.

Theodora gestured in the middle of the village. People were roaming, radiating malevolence from their bodies.

"There they are."

Zaveid instantly pulled out Siegfried and fired at the closest villager. The bullet washed away his malevolence with a magical silver wave. He trained his gun and fired another follow-up shot at the next villager beside him. Theodora glanced at the glowing Siegfried with curiosity,

"What is this? How can it function like that?"

Zaveid smirked in confidence. "The weapon is not mine nor its ammunition. They were entrusted to me by two of my friends."

"Was one of them that long-haired blond guy who went back into the temple?" Theodora guessed.

"Yeah."

"Hah. He felt strange."

Zaveid fired three more precise shots into another group. They clenched their heads in pain as the malevolence washed away. Some of them passed out from enduring the process, dropping to the ground.

"What do you mean by "strange"?" Zaveid asked.

Theodora checked one of the passed-out children for life signs and pressed her hand gently, sending healing waves. "I don't know how to explain it; He felt familiar and strange at the same time. He was like a collection of paradoxes, good and horrible. Haven't you felt the same thing about him?" Theodora described.

"No. He looked perfectly normal to me." Zaveid fired his last shot and reloaded Siegfried.

They heard several footsteps running behind them. The team had finally caught up. Laphicet pointed to someone and yelled. "Zaveid! There! The innkeeper's daughter!"

He finished loading the next set of bullets. "Sure thing, little guy."

A silver beam was fired and straightly travelled to the girl, washing away her malevolence. She fell to the ground, shaking and hugging herself tightly.

Eizen observed the villagers as they were confused and struggled to stand up. "There is a problem of moving the residents out of Haria."

"We don't have time for this," Velvet raised her voice, looking displeased. "Clear up, and let's go back to Yseult."

Zaveid and Theodora turned to her with disapproval. "We're not leaving until everyone here is cured of malevolence."

Velvet tensed. She was angry about Avernus and the situation at the same time. "I don't care about these people or this malevolence that everyone keeps talking about."

Eizen slowly nodded, siding with her. "I've to agree with Velvet. We don't need to waste our time here or people we don't know about."

Zaveid cleansed two more villagers. He was going to follow Avernus's request to the end. "You guys go on ahead. We will meet up at the docks."

Theodora was carrying the unconscious children out of danger. She leaned them near the inn's wall. "And certainly, we don't need the help of daemons and rogues."

Eleanor wanted to help, but the air was getting thicker, and Laphicet was in danger of being exposed to corruption.

Magilou knew the area was getting too dangerous for their malak companions. "What if Avernus fails to stop the malevolence? Then your efforts would be for nothing, and you two will turn into drakes or, even worse, dragons, killing the very innocent people you're trying to save in a blind rage." She told Zaveid and Theodora.