The Midnight Leave: What It Means to Be Human

CHAPTER 16

The night was the darkest it had ever been, yet also the most restless; as gloomy clouds loomed overhead, blocking what little brilliance the moon and stars provided in the darkness, it also brought the warning of a coming storm, as the wind blew as heavily as the sighs of the dejected. From a distance, the trees of the forest seemed like shadows dancing madly to the gale’s howls. Certainly, at least for the knight that happened to be on patrol that night, it was foreboding.

“Man…” Ketchup… No, Ketsu complained aloud, “I was hoping to be done with this area before it got this late. Guard duty sucks…”

As the Vice-captain of his squad, he couldn’t help but feel that the assignment was beneath him, but he also knew it was his punishment for making fun of his Captain, Mestard, along with the other Slayers. He could argue that he only did it because he knew his Captain would “pass on” the insult by trying to make fun of his own name, but that would have just been an excuse. The truth was that he had a difficult relationship with his Captain, and the chore he was given was one of many that have been pushed onto him over the years as a result.

“Damn it… Why does this night feel so cursed? It was bad enough that we had to deliver those creatures to that creepy Dalton Swinger this morning, right after finding out that Nexus would be amongst them! Why did we have to spend the night in the town closest to Swinger’s territory, where Nexus is, just so I’d end up having to patrol the border?! I swear, Captain’s trying to kill me off…”

The black clouds above proceeded to move, compelled by the forceful winds, but there was no end to them. It was almost as if darkness had covered the entire world, as the black clouds extended far beyond the horizon in spite of how they moved above Swinger’s domain. In fact, upon further observation, the clouds were swirling around Swinger’s territory as a focus point. Then, as soon as he noticed such a strange pattern, he heard a crashing sound from that very same location, and the trees of the forests proceeded to sway even more violently from forces not caused by the wind. In fact, as he continued hearing sounds of crashing and breaking, it seemed as if the trees were flying instead of dancing.

As much as Ketsu wanted to ignore the signs, it seemed obvious that another incident was occurring. He had received an order to report directly to Mestard if he noticed anything out of the ordinary, but he really didn’t want to get involved. Actually, he just didn’t want to return to Swinger’s estate.

“I’m sure the knights posted there can handle it…” He attempted to reassure himself. “Yeah, and they would ring the bell if things escalated beyond them. The Fifth Squad and their Captain are there too, so I won’t have to do anything.”

Nodding to himself as if the matter was settled, Ketsu planned to continue his patrol as if nothing was amiss. Of course, right at that moment, the Captain of the Fifth Squad that he had just mentioned called out to him from a path directly towards Swinger’s establishment.

“Third Vice-captain Ketsu, why haven’t you rung the bell yet?!”

Cursing his bad luck under his breath, he turned to greet her.

“Fifth Captain Lolicia. I was just about to alert my Captain…”

“Then why are you moving so leisurely?! Can’t you tell this is an emergency?! Move your a*s!”

With that, she ran ahead of Ketsu towards the town his own squad were stationed in. Since there was no way out of it at that point, he reluctantly followed Lolicia while preparing for the worst. As soon as they entered town, the Third Squad’s Captain Mestard stood near the entrance, still armed as if he was expecting their arrival.

“What took you so long, Ketsu? Since the Fifth Captain is with you, I presume there was an escalation, yeah?”

Before Ketsu could respond, Lolicia’s panicked voice rung out as she stomped towards Mestard.

“No s**t, there’s an escalation! Nexus is active! My entire squad was wiped out! You must gather your squad, and send someone to the bell tower! Hurry!”

Mestard held a hand up to stop her, and though his expression was hidden by his helmet, his strict tone carried a sense of disappointment towards the Fifth Captain.

“I understand how you must be feeling, but you must compose yourself. I’ve already ordered my knights to prepare, as well as sent one to the bell tower as soon as I noticed those clouds. However, did you really leave your squad to die?”

“What…? Of course, I didn’t! I was busy fighting against the Dark Elf that you let escape, and before I knew it… My Vice-captain… Seth was…”

As she clenched her fists and her shoulders trembled, Mestard sighed, and apologized with a softer tone.

“It’s my fault for misunderstanding, then. Since that incident involving the First Squad, I’ve been prone to jump to the worst conclusion. Even so, Lolicia, His Majesty won’t be happy to hear about this. You should expect a punishment, regardless of the circumstances.”

Lolicia only nodded, as if she were to attempt to speak, the emotions she held back would rush out like a flood. Ketsu stood there awkwardly, until his Captain’s attention was directed back to him, and his strict tone returned.

“Ketsu, didn’t you realize that I had you patrol the edge of Swinger’s territory because I expected something like this to happen? Don’t tell me that you didn’t notice anything up until the Fifth Captain reached you.”

“W-well…” Ketsu stammered as he struggled to think of a good enough excuse, “I mean, this weather makes it kind of difficult…”

“Bullshit,” Lolicia called him out as she sharply turned towards him. “You were taking your sweet a*s time reporting to the Third Captain. If I hadn’t caught you when I did, I bet you would have just ignored everything.”

Ketsu flinched as both Captains gave him the “deadly glare.” He quickly attempted to abate their suspicions, but it only sounded like more excuses.

“No, no, you got it wrong! I would never attempt to do such a thing! Don’t forget that I’m technically a Slayer too, in spite of being a Vice-captain! That’s why, though it took me longer than most would to notice, I was planning on reporting to you right away! But then, you won’t believe this s**t, but then, I saw trees flying in the air above Swinger’s place! I had to check to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating before I reported to you, otherwise I would sound crazy… Just, like I do now, huh?”

Before either Captain could reprimand him further, they were cut off by the roaring thunder. They all turned back towards the direction of Swinger’s establishment to catch a glimpse of the black lightning streaking through the sky above the forest. From that sign, they realized there was no more time to waste. The Third Squad Captain issued his orders to both the Fifth Captain and his subordinate.

“Ketsu, gather the knights of our squad and horses for each of us. We’re heading back to Swinger’s estate as soon as everyone’s here. Lolicia, wait near the bell tower for reinforcements to arrive and inform them of the situation. We’ll hold Nexus there until you’ve arrived. I wish we could avenge Seth together, but killing Nexus is something we just can’t accomplish right now. We’ll have to settle for recapturing him.”

“Understood!” They both answered in unison and moved accordingly.

#

“I told you not to act recklessly, didn’t I?!” Vilda began scolding Axis almost as soon as they reunited. “Honestly, only because you were able to land a strike luckily, you actually thought you could hold off that Demon with a sword that you just picked up?”

“Alright, I get it. Get off me, already.”

After the Demon’s disappearance, the company of three travelled through the forest to make their way out of Swinger’s territory. As Axis and Vilda quarreled, the Light Elf that the latter insinuated had cast the spell that rid them of the Demon, simply followed behind them silently.

“No, I will not get off! Wait, no… I mean, you don’t get it! Buying time wasn’t a bad idea, but I should’ve been the one to stay behind! There’s no reason you have to keep putting yourself in danger like that!”

“Are you kidding me? If I had left you alone with that Demon, you would have died in under a minute.”

“Hey, just because you can’t die doesn’t mean that I’m weaker than you! I’ll have you know that your lack of experience would make it easy for me to defeat you, even without being able to kill you!”

“True, but that Demon was stronger than you, experience or not. Besides, it made more sense for me to stay, since I can’t outright die like you and everything else. Was it reckless? Yes, I absolutely admit that, but we’re good now, no?”

Then, Axis turned towards the quiet Light Elf.

“Thanks to you, that is. We never got your name, by the way.”

“Nor will I give it, either.” She replied rudely. “I paid my debt to you both already by helping to get rid of that Demon, so after we reach Sanctum, I’ll have nothing more to do with either of you.”

With another huff, she turned away from Axis and returned to silence.

“Okay then…” Axis seemed to agree to the Light Elf’s conditions, before turning back to Vilda with a more hushed tone. “We should have just left her a*s there.”

“Axis!”

After Vilda’s exclamation, a voice they didn’t recognize called out from a distance, causing them all to crouch low to hide themselves further into the darkness of the night.

“Who’s there?! Show yourself right now!”

Following behind the unidentified voice was one that both Axis and Vilda recognized; it was the same Slayer that had brought them to Swinger’s establishment that very morning.

“What is it, Third Seat Vigus? Did you hear something?”

“Yes, Captain. A sound came from this direction.”

“Alright, half of you continue inspecting the buildings! The rest, follow the Third Seat towards the direction he pointed out and back him up! If Nexus is truly free, do not attempt to confront it on your own! Call out for the rest of us as loudly as possible, understood?!”

“Aye, sir!”

It was the worst possible scenario; just after an exhausting confrontation with the Demon named Chernos, the trio found themselves surrounded by Demkil’s knights, which were inspecting the site of the wreckage around Swinger’s main building, before they could make their way deeper into the forest. Though they hadn’t been spotted quite yet, it was only a matter of time before they were truly discovered, and whether they chose to fight or take flight, it would require more energy than any of them had. As they heard a group drawing closer to them, they had to make a snap decision, or else surrender themselves to what may come.

Perhaps it could have been considered either fortunate or unfortunate, but right at that moment, something within the dungeon underneath the main building had broken its way out, making its presence loudly known in the process. It distracted the knights headed towards Axis’s location, allowing them another chance to escape. Though Vilda and the Light Elf were quick to move away, Axis, on the other hand, was also distracted by the emergence of the creature.

The first thing he noticed before anything was how impossibly large the creature seemed to be; though it came from the dungeon underneath the main building, it overshadowed that same building by seeming five times its size. It was too dark to make out all of its details, but it looked like a tiger or some other Panthera. At the same time, it had another head protruding from the back of its spine, including with it a pair of horns. Finally, at the end of its tail was something akin to a snake, but more beastly and with constant smoke billowing from its mouth like a chimney.

The most damning detail of all was that its form was completely made up of aura; in other words, it was a projection created from the mass amount of energy that its true vessel emanated. More importantly, Axis recognized that dark aura more than anyone else.

Wait a minute… He thought as he observed, Is it that same f*****g Demon?!