Tales of Berseria The X: Beyond Calamity

Chapter XLIII: Destiny

"Those who can not abandon anything will accomplish nothing."

-King Claudius Asgard-

Velvet raised her head. The clouds parted to reveal the moon, streaming down upon them brightly in a silver hue, calm and serene. "It's no longer red."

"The scarlet night's over," Eizen said, bending down on one knee near Velvet and Avernus. "I feel a shift in the earthpulse. It appears that waking up the Empyreans has averted the rumbling activities of the volcano. The mountain will not erupt. At least not for a few hundred years."

Eizen slowly pulled Avernus off Velvet's lap, with Rokurou joining him to help with the carry. "I guess whatever Avernus and Lailah did, had worked in our favour. Isn't that right, Lailah?" Rokurou said as he and Eizen each held each of Avernus' shoulders, ready to take him back to Van Eltia.

"Yes. The four Empyreans pushed Innominat away from the earthpulses. His domain is no longer affecting the mind of malakhim or humans." Lailah informed, her eyes followed Avernus' unconscious face that was heartbreakingly sleeping like an innocent child. Velvet caught an alarming feel of concern in Lailah's benevolent eyes.

"Lailah." Velvet called, and the fire malak turned to her. "Thank you. If it hadn't been for you, I don't think we could've awakened the four Empyreans. We're in your debt."

"I did what I had to do." Lailah nodded. "I'm happy that I could help you and Avernus, Velvet-san."

Magilou slid closer to Lailah, making herself visible to the lord of calamity. "Aren't you forgetting someone, Velvet?"

"You're right. Thank you-"

Magilou quickly interrupted Velvet. "I'm not like Lailah that a mere "thank you" satisfies me. I only accept gifts or gald in tens of thousands."

Velvet groaned in annoyance. "Forget it. I take it back."

Laphicet joined them and moved beside Lailah. "What was that illusory arte, Magilou?"

"My personal affair that I had prepared for the old man." Magilou giggled in pride. "It was to remind him how breaking someone's heart feels. In other words: Payback."

"That man was Claudin, am I right?"

"He was. Melchior loved him so much that he made an oath a hundred years ago to accompany him and see his vision through. Claudin's death hit him hard. Very hard." Magilou sneered, locking her arms behind her head, staring into the horizon with wicked satisfaction. "That was also his downfall. Hypocrisy at its finest."

"What about Avernus? I sensed a lot of malakhim souls and consciousnesses rushing to him. Wasn't that dangerous?" Laphicet wondered.

"Those souls you felt, Laphicet, were the wills of malaks who were suppressed and consumed by Innominat," Lailah answered. "Wills to live and wills to push on. Avernus gave his body as a vessel to outweigh the Melchior's magic of suppression." Her face went pale for a second as she remembered something, a vision of someone quietly resting under an apple tree in the Avalon. Lailah quickly switched her thoughts back. "Sometimes, little guidance can help lost souls. That's what shepherds are for, and that's what Avernus is for...."

"I bet malaks love an evil shepherd who gives them the freedom to express their emotions more than a benevolent one who binds them in prison. Did you know all of that from before?" Magilou asked, bringing her back to the matter at hand.

Lailah quickly glanced at Velvet with a sense of guilt before returning her attention to Magilou. "No, I heard whispers of another malak guiding me. For the souls, and even for getting back the sword."