Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 28

The party kept their weapons held firmly; they didn't know what Lucilius was going to do next. He was strong enough to defeat Velvet in a second and could take them down easily, no matter if it was one by one or all together. With Celica's help to cure his ailments, Arthur gained the confidence to try, despite his knowledge he was nothing against a being such as Lucilius.

Lucilius grabbed onto Arthur's blade and spun it to throw Arthur on the ground then kicked Arthur back like it was nothing. He looked right to Vanessa who was holding her halberd while shaking. Sorey stood in between them and kept his sword up to protect her. Lucilius grabbed onto his sword, lifted it, and kicked him in the chest to send him collapsing as well.

"So, is this what you call your friends?" Lucilius asked Vanessa.

"Don't bully her!" Eleanor attempted to make an attack, only for Alisha and Edna to stop her.

"At least you can understand pattern recognition. I have no intention to kill any of you here, that wouldn't be much fun now would it?"

"You enjoy this, don't you? You like to watch people suffer because of your actions!" Vanessa yelled.

"That's right! I'm having so much fun watching you all suffer and go through life fighting an impending death! It all makes me so happy! Once I'm done here, I'll kill you all one by one! That will be the most fun I'll have in this world!"

The man that stood before them, he was insane, his actions, his words, every piece of him, he was evil to the core. Lucilius took a hold of Vanessa's halberd and broke in half, she wasn't anything to him. None of them were. Their trial to purify the Phoenixes of Vanessa's world was just a play to him, his only goal was to watch them fight for their lives, to see them try their best against beings they hadn't fought before.

It was finally his turn to make a move. He had stalled for enough time and was getting bored of waiting. He was ready to enact his plan, and he wanted to see the faces of the people who tried so hard to save the world to watch it burn to ashes. His face said everything about him, he was smiling because he knew that he had the power to destroy them and they knew it too. He turned his back to them and disappeared in white light.

The white feather Vanessa had stopped glowing, it was a sign that Lucilius didn't want to be found again. He was bored from how inept the party was at fighting him and didn't want them to get in his way. To him, they were tiny birds trying to fly in his way of shooting down a bigger one. If they wanted any chance of defeating him, they needed to grow stronger and know his weaknesses.

Eleanor and Alisha aided in their defeated allies while Vanessa was frozen in shock. Lucilius, a being from another world like her, a being so powerful, he defeated three of her allies effortlessly. Even in her world, there wasn't anyone so confident in their own power, that they stood up to a group of heroes as he did. Rose snapped Vanessa out of her state, it wasn't the time to stay in one place. They were just asking to be attacked if Lucilius changed his mind.

The group headed to Velvet's house for their base of operations. Arthur, Velvet, and Sorey were back on their feet by the time Vanessa got her thoughts together. She held her broken halberd and stared at it, she had worked hard to make it, and even harder to train herself to use it. She couldn't believe it was broken so easily. To her, that was a show of just how weak she was, and how little she could fight against a real enemy.

She stood up and went into another room. When she emerged from the room hours later, she held the halberd in her hands, but it was different. It had blue metal on the bottom and top of the handle with feathers hanging down from both sides. Her clothes were also different, she had a purple shirt under her grey jacket, blue pants with the right side shorter than the left, and brown shoes.

"Vanessa?" Sorey asked.

"I'm not going to sit down and let him push us around," Vanessa said.

"Yeah, but what about..." Lailah pointed to her outfit and halberd.

"It was time for an upgrade."

"As much as I like your enthusiasm Vanessa," Arthur started. "We don't know his weakness, or if he has any."

"Arthur's right," Mikleo commented. "We should take this slowly."

"He's still out there!" Vanessa yelled, "if we let him do what he wants, he'll cause more chaos to spread, and...and I can't let anyone get hurt!"

"Vanessa..." Laphicet said.

Vanessa was letting her own anger get the better of her, she had so many emotions going through her, then Sorey hugged her. He reassured her that everything was going to be okay, they would stop Lucilius, just not right away. Vanessa started to cry, she couldn't bear to see her friends get hurt, not like how they did when trying to fight Lucilius for the first time. Sorey took her to another so she could cry it out and the others thought of what to do next.

Laphicet held onto the bell on his collar, he was in deep thought, being so close to Lucilius that let him know just what they were up against. Such power made him think if there was anything to counter it. In every story he read, some heroes and villains shared the same strength, they were meant to counter one another so neither was placed above the other. In most, the hero went through a journey to become stronger and defeat the villain, and in the end, they died, lived out their lives in peace, or became a villain in another story.

Laphicet was sure their journey was the same, as seeing as Lucilius went to Arthur, had to mean Arthur was a significant part of their story. Both were from different worlds, not branches of Sorey's world, and possibly had the power to kill each other if the time came. Celica knew what Laphicet was thinking, and she didn't say anything, he was right. Two beings from a different world being pinned against one another made sense, but it also meant they would both perish in the end.