Chương 32: Moment of Rest

"I can feel it." Noah looked down the hallway ahead.

"We're getting close." The castle had grown quieter. Each room behind them felt like another layer of Medusa's heart had been peeled away. The ballroom. The servants. The garden. None of them had felt like simple defenses. They had felt like memories. Noah knelt beside Ava and placed his hand gently against her side. Darkness gathered around his fingers. Ava winced slightly as his ability pulled the lingering pain from her body and carried it into his own. Noah ignored the ache spreading beneath his skin.

"Your Regalia healed most of the damage," he said.

"This should cover the rest." The bruises along Ava's body faded. The blood at the corner of her mouth disappeared. Noah pulled his hand back and smiled.

"I can't restore the mana you used, though. So try to take it easy until we reach the throne room." Ava stretched one arm, testing the pain. Then she smiled back.

"Just so you know, I meant it." Noah blinked. Ava lifted her new bow slightly.

"I'll be the one to defeat Erzsebet." Her crimson eyes shone with fierce confidence.

"You'll just have to settle for becoming the Sword Master." Noah stared at her for a moment. Then he laughed softly.

"That's a pretty big thing to settle for." Adam leaned against the wall, his black spear resting over his shoulder.

"If I ever find out who stole my position, I'll beat them and become the new Spear Lord." His smile returned, but it was thinner than before. Still tired. Still hiding too much. Cyrus adjusted his glasses.

"Personally, I'll be content with my life once I save Nox." He looked back toward the rooms they had passed through.

"Though, when this is over, I would like to bring some of these people back to Helheim." His voice softened.

"Medusa too, if I can." Noah's smile faded.

"Yeah." He looked down at his hand. The darkness from Ava's wounds still crawled faintly beneath his skin.

"After hearing everything, I don't know what we're supposed to do about the Emperor." The others went quiet. Noah looked toward the end of the hall.

"Maybe getting Medusa to drop her barrier and leave would be enough to stop his wrath." He clenched his hand.

"But I don't know if I can kill her." Ava lowered her gaze.

"Yeah." She let out a small sigh.

"I know this was my idea, but…" Her fingers tightened around the bow.

"Same." Cyrus looked toward the throne room doors ahead.

"She is not innocent," he said.

"But I do not think she is the monster the stories made her out to be." Adam said nothing. Noah stood. The weight of his sword felt heavier than before. Cyrus looked down the hallway ahead, then adjusted his glasses.

"Based on the intel I received from my sister, we are almost there." He leaned lightly against the wall, his breathing still somewhat uneven from his fight with Jupiter.

"We should take this moment to rest and plan our next move." Ava nodded and sat down near the wall, her new bow resting across her lap. Noah remained standing.

"How close?"

"My sister is waiting just outside the throne room," Cyrus said.

"We only need to push through the next hallway. After that, we'll reach her." Noah looked toward the darkness ahead. The throne room was close. Medusa was close. So was the black book. And so were The Crows.

"What are we going to do about them?" Noah asked. Cyrus glanced at him.

"The Crows?" Noah nodded.

"We took care of Jupiter, but there are still three others." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. His grip tightened around his sword.

"One of them is just a kid. Labyrinth." Adam's expression shifted slightly at that. Noah continued.

"But then there's The Doctor." The hallway seemed colder at the name.

"And the blue-masked one."

"Jackpot," Adam said. Everyone looked at him.

"The Wing of Envy." Adam rested his spear against his shoulder.

"He's often nicknamed the Blind Devil." Ava frowned.

"Blind?"

"His mask has no eye holes," Adam said.

"That's where the name comes from."

"How strong is he?" Adam's smile thinned.

"In terms of power, most people estimate he is the second strongest of the Seven Wings." Cyrus's eyes narrowed.

"That is not comforting."

"No," Adam said.

"It isn't." For a moment, his gaze drifted toward the floor. Then he forced his usual grin back into place.

"If it comes down to it, all of you keep your heads down and let me handle him." Noah looked at him.

"Adam."

"I mean it." Adam's voice was casual, but there was steel beneath it.

"Jackpot doesn't kill women or children, so Ava and Noah should be fine." Noah blinked.

"Hey." Adam pointed at Cyrus.

"But I'll at least make sure he doesn't ice you." Cyrus stared at him. Then slowly rolled his eyes.

"Was that an ice pun?" Adam's grin widened.

"Maybe."

"That was terrible."

"Then I'll workshop it later." For a brief moment, the tension softened. Ava laughed quietly. Noah managed a small smile. But Adam's expression changed again. The humor faded. He looked at each of them in turn. Noah. Ava. Cyrus. The children of his friends. The children he was supposed to protect. The children he was going to betray. His hand tightened around his spear.

"I mean it," Adam said. His voice was quieter now.

"No matter what happens…" He swallowed.

"I refuse to let any of you die." Noah met his eyes. For some reason, the words did not make him feel safer. They made his chest ache. But he nodded anyway.

"Then we'll all survive." Adam smiled. It almost looked real.

"Yeah." He turned toward the hallway ahead.

"That's the plan." Noah stood and tightened his grip on his sword.

"Let's go." He looked toward the door ahead.

"We're almost there." The party moved forward. The next door opened into a long hallway. At first glance, the floor looked normal. Smooth stone stretched from one end of the hall to the other, lit by soft lamps along the walls. Then Noah took one step. His boot sank slightly. He frowned and pulled his foot back. The floor stretched with it. Sticky. Goopy. It looked like stone, but it felt like melted marshmallow. Ava grimaced.

"That's disgusting." Cyrus tapped the ground with his shoe and immediately regretted it.

"Wonderful. The castle has decided to become unpleasant." At the far end of the hallway, a woman waited for them. She had dark skin, short brown hair, and black eyes. A cowboy hat sat low on her head, matching the rest of her western-style attire. One of her sleeves hung empty. Her right arm was missing. In her remaining hand, she held a lollipop, which she licked with casual interest as the group approached. She stared at them for a moment.

"Intruders…" Her head tilted.

"Let's see." She squinted.

"My brother taught me how to do this." Noah raised his sword. The woman counted slowly under her breath.

"Um…" She pointed her lollipop toward them.

"There are five of you, right?" Cyrus blinked.

"There are four of us." The woman stared. Then she nodded.

"Ah. Right." She tapped her forehead lightly with the lollipop.

"I always get my numbers mixed up." Ava's eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" The woman ignored the question and looked over the group again.

"Well, four is still too many for me." She turned her head toward a door on the side of the hallway.

"Big brother, can you take care of half of them?" Adam's eyes widened.

"Move!" The library doors beside them burst open. Dozens of black hands exploded from the darkness within. Noah swung his sword, cutting through several of them, but more poured out in an instant. Ava tried to jump back, but the sticky floor slowed her movement. A hand caught her ankle.

"Ava!" Noah reached for her, but another wave of hands surged between them. Adam stepped forward and drove his spear through the mass, but several hands wrapped around his arms, legs, and waist.

"Damn it." Ava stabbed one hand with her dagger, freezing it in place, but three more grabbed her from behind. Then the hands pulled. Adam and Ava were dragged through the library doors. The doors slammed shut behind them. Noah stared at the closed doors, heart pounding. The woman licked her lollipop again.

"That's much more fair, right?" Noah took a slow breath. His hands shook once. Then steadied.

"Ava will be fine." He raised his sword.

"Adam too." He forced himself to look away from the library doors and focus on the woman in front of him.

"We just need to handle this one." The sticky floor clung to his boots as he adjusted his stance. Cyrus stepped beside him, ice forming around his fingertips.

"I'll support you." He pushed up his glasses.

"Go forth, little Hero." Noah glanced at him.

"Little?" Cyrus smiled faintly.

"Focus." The woman at the end of the hall giggled. Noah lowered his sword. The throne room was almost within reach. And only one more obstacle stood in their way.