The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 11 - Part I: Downpour

The storm that had been unleashed over Entrana fulfilled the expectations granted by the continuous lightning that shattered the skies open. The rain was pouring down, flooding the moving platform so rapidly that the water fell over the edges into the void like a circular waterfall.

Crestfallen and sitting in the middle of the flooded stone floor, Asura was crying. She had not moved an inch from that place; the doom on Frida's face and Royce accepting his fate by activating the elevator were replicated in her battered mind over and over again with no way to stop them.

"Asura...," Stanislaus, kneeling by her side and having put his glasses away, did not seem quite sure what to say to comfort his friend, but seeing that his help was required by the three men gathered in front of the carriage, he made an attempt to summon the courage Royce had conveyed to him with his last will. "I-I never knew what it feels like t-to lose someone dear. I was v-very l-little when my m-mother passed away... I-I can't... I-I-I can't..."

Asura was forced to look up when Stanislaus took her tightly by the shoulders: furious and having inherited Royce's determination, the physics student made a titanic effort to rid her of his stutter and exclaimed:

"I can't understand the pain you're feel right now, but don't you dare surrender; not when we're so close to achieving what we set out to do! If you do, you'll be insulting Royce and Frida and the sacrifice they made!"

Surrender? That was what she had wanted to do from the very beginning, but she could do nothing against that contagious hope that those wonderful people around transmitted to her... Now, the little tenacity that remained in Asura had been annihilated in a few but fatal minutes. How could she continue after such tragedy?

The answer and the motivation lay at the heart of that suffering.

"Live, Lady Asura!" Royce's last words, along with his defiant and short speech to Silas, served to keep the embers in her soul alive, at least for the moment. That incomparable bravery that he demonstrated by wanting to fight alone to the very end, chained down by Silas and wounded by Lucy's blades, was an inspiring trait in the midst of despair.

Asura let the rain bathe her face for a moment as if it could purify all those negative emotions inside her; her vacant eyes were momentarily lost in the dark skies intermittently illuminated by lightning, where surely Veredyn was stalking her behind that endless blanket of black clouds.

She rose from floor, shook the folds of her trench coat once to shake off the blanket of raindrops that covered her, and looked around: Stanislaus went to assist Amos and Aurum to take that large wooden box out of the carriage, which previously they had to push back to leave the front semicircle of the platform empty; on the other hand, Chalrus had released the horses from the bands and breeching of the carriage and was preparing them for their inevitable escape though the city.

The Princess petted one of the horses as she passed by, feeling the softness of its wet fur, and went in a straight line towards Aurum Black. He was taking out from inside the box that instrument that was going to open the way through the checkpoint waiting hundreds of meters below: a state-of-the-art high-caliber heavy machine gun that rendered Justine Fontaine's right-hand rotary weapon obsolete.

After placing a tripod centered in the direction of the door leading to the void, he began to assemble the weapon, totally ignoring the rain and its negative influence on the task. Asura had come over to appreciate his work while Amos and Stanislaus went to help Chalrus put the girths and reins on the horses.

"Isn't it wonderful? This would have been impossible to get if not for knight Loren and his access to Clapeyron Industries' military technology," the gunslinger explained to her. Even with his hat on, the rain had dampened the handkerchief that covered his mouth, sticking it to his skin and outlining his jaw and mouth. "The only problem with this kind of weapon is that it overheats very quickly, but fortunately we have plenty of cooling water falling on our heads. I'll be able to shoot for a whole minute, smash the security gate into thousands of pieces and turn the checkpoint into a graveyard."