"So it's over." Roko sighed as he leaned against a wall, "Complete victory on all fronts. Makes it almost seem my part worthless now doesn't it?"
Taking the last swig of water from his canteen, he tossed the empty container down on the ground as he looked up at the remaining stairs left to climb.
"Still...even with all the pieces captured, we have to check the king. I'm almost there anyway."
And so with tired and numb legs, Roko climbed the last flights of stairs onto the final platform where a door awaited him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Roko opened the door and stepped into the familiar roof chamber.
"Welcome." Sirius sneered obnoxiously from his throne across from Roko, "You've made it to the final boss."
"Where?" Roko asked as he looked around mockingly.
"Very funny, Poko. I see you haven't matured a bit since we last left."
"Neither have you if you're still pretending to not know my name."
"You're just so forgetful."
"Then I see my lessons didn't make much of an impression." Roko crossed his arms, "Has anybody ever told you you were a horrible student?"
"Quite the contrary. I was an honors student."
"I find that hard to believe."
"That's not to say I didn't appreciate the showboating you gave me with that card you left behind." Sirius smirked, "I even prepared a gift for you in return."
Sirius gestured off to his side where a certain man had been hanging, captured in a stock ever since Roko walked into the room.
"Hey." Alphard said apologetically, "I got caught."
"...Who are you?"
"Wh- I'm Alphard! I'm the police captain you beat when you first arrived in Muldingirmus! I helped you sneak into Min Al Az'al the first time!"
"Oh did you now?" Sirius' eyes narrowed.
"Aw crap. Shouldn't have said that." Alphard winced.
"Yeah. Yeah you shouldn't have." Roko sighed.
"W-Well check this out!" Alphard cried, "I figured it out! Sirius wasn't working alone! He has an accomplice!"
"Yeah. I know." Roko replied matter of factly.
"No, you don't understand! I know who it is! You'll never expect it! It's-"
"Now now be quiet." Sirius said, pressing a button on his throne to administer a shock to the captured Alphard, "Now then Roko. Why don't you come over and kindly pick up your subordinate?"
"He doesn't work for me."
"Whatever."
With a scoff, Roko began walking over to free Alphard, Sirius sneering more and more obviously and Alphard looking more and more terrified the closer Roko came. It was obvious that some sort of ambush was going to happen but it was impossible to tell when or where it was going to happen. If Roko had not analyzed the map earlier and already marked down everyone in the room, including the man sneaking up behind him.
"So..."
Roko raised an arm as if to help Alphard from the stock but quickly dodged to the side as a knife sailed right past where he was. Then Roko quickly kneeled down, locking his raised arm around his assailant's head in a deceptively friendly gesture, "How can I help you...Zenith?"
Zenith's eyes bulged in shock as Roko stared calmly and coldly into his eyes, "You...know me?"
"I've been told stories." Roko replied.
"It's you..." Alphard scowled, "Roko, it's him, Zenith! The third leader of the rebel-"
"I'm aware." Roko said, turned to Alphard, "He's the reason you quite the Earthbounds right?"
"Well...yeah..."
"And now I see you here working for Sirius." Roko said turning back to Zenith with cold fury in his eyes, "What an interesting career progression."
"Get off me." Zenith scowled, pushing Roko away from him and stepping back as he trained his knife on Roko, "We're not friends."
"No, I suppose we're not." Roko said, "Not after trying to sneak us a poisoned panacea the first time we met."
"You knew?"
"Not exactly. But once I knew you were involved, it wasn't hard to tell you were behind that stunt as well."
"How'd you figure me out?" Zenith scowled, "No one in the entire city knew of my involvement."
"You were pretty well hidden I'll admit." Roko shrugged, "But the mistakes started with your rain operation. One that must've started a long time ago. The gargoyle homonucli could not have been developed without Sirius' financial backing. But creating three homunculi to cover for the flood might've been a bit much for your little budget so you ended up having to do the most important part of the plan on your own, the actual flooding. Perhaps you were impatient or perhaps the money or research never came together to create the power needed to flood the sewers otherwise. And once we showed up and started pressing the counterattack, you had to resort to enchanted Sealiths. Ones that you had to enchant yourself either due to lack of time or money. Resulting in poor performance...but you were still able to purchase the Sealiths using one of Sirius' burner account. The problem was when I brought in Corissa...and endangering her made Sirius drop his support for your plan. But the war was still on and your plan was already in motion. And you needed to counter my attempts to unravel your plan. So you ordered sea mines. With your own...personal account."
"No...I...I cleaned as much of the details as possible." Zenith scowled, "There's no way you could've just gotten my name from it!"
"True, your name was not on it." Roko admitted, "But the fact that the account was a Mulapin native was telling enough. If someone in Muldingirmus was purchasing sea mines then that'd be one thing. But what person in the poor slums of Mulapin could've been purchasing weapons? Who in Mulapin even have the guts to purchase a weapon? If it had to be someone, it would have to be someone in the revolution. Or at least...someone who used to be part of it."
"B-But Gallus was a spy!" Zenith protested, "I know you knew he was a spy."
"True, I did know." Roko sighed, almost tired of explaining, "But Gallus can barely afford to support his family, much less buy expensive weaponry. And even if he had the money, he is not the type to buy something like a sea mine. But the most telling thing was the one time he tried to come along with me and Corissa into the sewer during our operations. If he was the mastermind, why did he feel the need to endanger himself, especially when he, presumably, just finished setting up his countermeasure mines? After he left to join the police too? No, he was a spy but he was clearly under orders from someone else to infiltrate and figure out how exactly we were exploring the sewer."
"Grr..."
"But I can stand here spewing facts on and on but all of it pales to the sense of extremity and cruelty with the plans you exhibited. Sure, the food poisoning was cruel but it was a rehash of another plan by Sirius himself so we can discount that. Flooding the sewers is truly burning the forest to destroy some hornets type of behavior. And then the sea mines that could've collapsed this entire city if it went wrong. The only one who seemed to fit that description of cruelty, to the extent that Sirius himself would push back on their plan...was you, Zenith."
There was a stunned silence as everyone paused to consider all of Roko's exposition. Time that Roko took to release Alphard from the stocks.
"You're free now."
"Oh!" Alphard cried as he realized he had been freed, "T-Thanks..."
"You got a weapon?"
"No, but I can conjure my own weapons. Equip!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot you can do that." Roko remarked as Alphard summoned a spectral dagger.
"Heh. I dare say I'm even stronger than you are!"
"That's funny, I remember beating you."
"You remember that but you don't remember my spells?!"
"How'd you get caught anyway?"
"I uhhhh...I sneaked into their lab and tried to get past those big heavy door we saw. You know..."
"The one that was hiding the prototype gargoyle homonculi?"
"How'd you-"
"Just a guess."
"Oh."
"And you got sneak attacked by Zenith?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Aight. Glad we're all caught up." Roko said drawing his sword, "Time to capture the king then."
"N-No you don't!" Zenith cried, rushing to attack Roko.
Roko reacted by kicking Zenith in the chest only for his kick to go right through Zenith's body as it dissipated into obscuring smoke that surrounded Roko and began hiding everything from view. It was impossible to tell where Sirius was, much less what was only a few feet in front of him. Even Alphard seemed to have disappeared though his voice came through from the smoke just fine.
"What is this?! I-I can't see a thing! This smoke won't go away! Not even my Wind magic is doing anything!"
A few more screams of pain and Alphard let out a nasty swear, "Zenith you rat bastard! Stop attacking me from the smoke and fight me like a man!"
"This is why I left, Alphard." Zenith's voice seemed to come from every direction, "You Earthbounds were never willing to do what it took to achieve victory. We didn't have much so we needed to use everything we had! Why didn't any of you understand?!"
"Don't be a fool, Zenith. With your methods, there would be no one left to order around and no one left to save. The rebellion was right to kick you out."
"You would never have won without my help!"
"Uh...hello?" Roko spoke up, "I'm right here and proving that wrong as we speak."
"Roko?!" Alphard frowned, "Why do you sound perfectly fine?!"
"Cause Zenith hasn't attacked me yet."
"WHY?!"
"I dunno ask him."
"Pfft. Don't get it twisted. Alphard's magic is much worse than yours."
"Yeah, I guess my curse is pretty deadly."
"Have you ever had anything worse than a really bad headache?" Roko asked.
"What's the meaning behind this question?" Zenith asked suspiciously.
"It's not a headache, it's a migraine!"
"Got a doctor's note on that?"
"Hey, I'm the one doing all the fighting right now!"
"Aight, you want me to help? I'll come over and fight Zenith right now."
"Wait, for real?" Alphard, Zenith and even a bit of Sirius' voice could be heard saying this at the same time.
"You wanna make this easy and drop the illusion?" Roko crossed his arms and tapped a finger on his shoulder expectantly.
No answer came.
"Alright. Suit yourself." Roko said as he shifted his sword in his hand and threw it. Not at the marker where Zenith was. Not where Alphard was. Straight to where Roko had marked Sirius. And though Roko could not see his sword after it left his hand, he heard Sirius' scream and the distinct, disappointing sound of his sword sinking into a velvet throne.
"Damn. Missed." Roko sighed.
"What the-!"
Alphard's surprised remark was only a brief distraction from Zenith's mark which was coming right for him after his attack. Perhaps he thought he had a better chance now that Roko no longer had his weapon. Not that he needed to be so shy, Roko wasn't particularly strong.
Using Map Scan, Roko got a good idea of Zenith's positioning and easily caught Zenith's stab, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away. The illusion still tried to trick him into believing he was grasping at nothing but the contact he was making was unmistakable. So was the elbow he struck, bending Zenith's forearm outwards until he was forced to drop his knife. Whipping Zenith's arm over his head, Roko grasped for Zenith's head, waving around until he felt the fibers of hair and grabbing onto them with a death grip. With control over his head and arm now, Roko began kneeing the poor man in to stomach, making sure to use extra strength to hit through his armor. When his knee felt sore, Roko grabbed Zenith's invisible neck and choke slammed him into the ground before mounting him and begin beating the invisible air where Zenith's head definitely was.
"Is this working?" Roko called as he continued smashing Zenith's face in, "I can't tell!"
"Roko?!" Alphard cried, "Roko, is that you being beat up over there?"
"I dunno, let me ask Zenith." Roko said, pausing his assault to look down at the still invisible man, "Hey Zenith, who's winning?"
"Get off me you bitch!" Zenith tried growling but it seemed like there might be too much fluids in his mouth so he had to cough up some blood first before trying to sound intimidating.
"Watch your mouth, young man." Roko said punching Zenith in the face again, "You're being a bad influence. Do you want me to take away your enchanted disco ball that's casting illusions for you?"
"H-How'd he know?" Sirius said, fear creeping into his voice for the first time.
"Sirius, please. Don't tell me you didn't think I would notice something that clearly wasn't there the last time I was here."
"You were here before?!"
"Not the time, Alphard!"
"U-Urgh...get...off!"
Finally having regained enough of his strength, Zenith shoved Roko off him and quickly disappeared into his illusion again.
"Z-Zenith! I'm paying you good money to win this!" Sirius demanded, quite unreasonably.
"I know!" Zenith snapped, "I've got no choice! Set to Scramble!"
At his command, the illusion began to twist and warp. Instead of hiding their surroundings, lights and sensations began to warp Roko's mind, dizzying him and sending him falling to the ground. Behind his own mind being filled with confusing colors and contradicting information, Roko could hear Alphard screaming in immense pain as he flailed on the ground in pain,
"What is this?!" He cried, "This hurts so much more than my headache!"
"So now you admit it's a headache!" Roko retorted though even he couldn't really hear his own voice through his pounding head.
"You're dead meat, you scumbag." Zenith's voice came through clear through the confusion but it wasn't quite as concerning with blood still in his mouth.
"Be careful Alphard, he's coming after you!" Roko called.
"W-What?! Why me?!"
"Like you said, you're the dangerous one!"
"Aw hell no, not with this headache! You deal with it!"
"Me?!"
"Yeah!"
"You sure?"
"DO SOMETHING!"
"Alright, if you say so."
Roko's casual conversation was enough to give his opponents pause. They could see him squirming on the ground, afflicted by the illusory malaise and to be honest, Roko was struggling with the sensory overload going on. He felt like he was floating in midair, assaulted by all directions with stimuli but he still held onto enough awareness to push himself up on his back as he stared up at the lights obscuring the ceiling.
"I hope you're watching, Zadkiel you bastard." Roko growled, "I didn't think I'd get to do this but this is the LEAST powerful effect my third spell has so you better be paying attention cause it'll probably never come up again, you hear me?!"
Taking a deep breath, Roko glared up at the ceiling, at the lights that obscured his vision and prayed that there was no one standing in front of him, "Reveal."
All at once the lights began disappearing. A small bit of reality that spread out until the illusion itself was broken all across the room. Alphard pulled his head up, confused by his sudden clarity but not as baffled as Sirius or Zenith.
"There we go." Roko breathed a sigh of relief as he stood back up, "Any more tricks under your sleeve, Zenith? Because if you're out then right now is your best chance at actually beating me." Roko raised his fists at the confused former extremist rebel, "One on one. Fair fight."
Zenith rubbed his chin, still nursing some of his last bruises but still perfectly in fighting shape. His eyes, which used to carry a sense of discontented contempt now focused into a bemused intrigue that stared at Roko with wary interest. So he dropped the knife he had picked back up and raised his fists as well, his stature more sharp and rigid that spoke of a much more learned and diligent experience behind him. For the first time since arriving here, Roko was completely outmatched. But still he charged in and threw a punch at him.
Zenith didn't try blocking. He took the punch into his already bruised face but pushed through it with his own counterattack into Roko's own face. Roko staggered back, not quite as resistant to taking hits as the former warrior but still not giving in. Taking advantage of the space he had relinquished, Zenith stepped in to press his attack, preparing another punch at Roko's face. Roko deflected it with an arm and went in with his other arm. Zenith struck back, turning the exchange into a cross counter that staggered both of them. Roko gasped, not sure how much more hit he can take but he was aware of Zenith's. He was left at 43% health according to analyze and each hit was taking about 3% more health from him. As it stood, Roko was probably going to go down first if Zenith continued being aggressive. Even the massive health advantage Roko had gained from assaulting him during the illusion was only barely keeping him ahead. If he wanted to take him down, he'd have to land some sort of critical hit. A clearly difficult idea given their current contest and Zenith's experience. He was letting Roko land hits but he wasn't foolish enough to leave an KO opening. At least...not until he felt confident enough. And to create an opening...Roko would just have to bait it.
Not a particularly difficult task since he's been taking enough damage to begin wavering, or at least pretending to waver. The acting was not a problem but if Zenith would take it. And from the looks of it-
Roko's thinking was interrupted by a square punch to the face. Right into his nose with enough force to send the thoughts flying out of Roko's head. He staggered, his arms dropped and his legs slipped, dropping him into an awkward position. It was the most open position that Roko could give and Zenith knew it. He dove in, pulling his body in for a fierce straight. And fully taking Roko's bait. As from Roko's position, he threw his own body forward, in a complete and reckless counterattack. He shifted his head slightly letting Zenith's straight slip the side of his cheek but it wasn't enough to stop Roko's final attack. The otherworlder's fist struck Zenith on the side of the chin. But Roko was still falling forward and his arm was still wound back. So when Roko finally fully threw his punch, he twisted Zenith's neck quite far and sent him flying through the air. Roko collapsed on the ground right afterwards but where he was able to pick himself afterwards, Zenith laid flat on the ground, completely knocked out.
"Ow ow ow." Roko rubbed his cheek, "Took a bit more damage there and I thought."
"Uhhh..."
"Oh hey Alphard." Roko turned to the dumbfounded former guard, "Good to see you still alive. You see all that?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Instead of capturing Sirius?"
"Huh? OH SH-"
"Don't bother, he's gone now." Roko sighed as he walked over to where the throne used to be, now replaced by long and dark hole.
"That bastard had an escape route?" Alphard looked down the hole curiously, "That's crazy..."
"Yeah. You know where this leads?"
"No."
"Well if I had to guess..."
Roko walked off towards the edge of their tower, to where it overlooked the back of Min Al Azal. The path to the edge of the wall wasn't too long but he could see a lone carriage struggling to make it's way even with two horses.
"Hurry! Hurry, hurry hurry!" Sirius shouted from inside the cart!"
"Sir, please, the horses can only move so quickly while carrying this much luggage!" The cabbie yelp helplessly.
"I don't want excuses, I want results!"
"Helena!" Roko called out loud enough for even Sirius to hear, "You got five seconds to show up."
"Shit, shit shit!" Sirius looked up at Roko with terror in his eyes, "Fuck it, start dropping stuff!"
"Huh? But sir-"
"Shut it! Just get the horses moving!"
Roko watched as Sirius began dumping stuff off the cart. Unfortunately he began with the lightest objects he could grab which began with small totes and bags full of papers. It only took three seconds for Helena's drone to pop up out of the floor.
"You yelled, Roko?" Helena asked.
"Can you make that shot?" Roko asked, not taking his eyes off the panicking Sirius.
"Hmmm..." Helena's drone studied the situation closely, "...Yep. Totally doable."
"Then do it."
"Roger that, boss. Shot coming in five...four..."
By the time Helena's countdown hit two, Sirius finally learned to start throwing the heavier items, crates full of food and other fancy precious items. The cart was finally starting to speed up and they were nearly halfway the short distance to the edge of the wall protecting Muldingirmus. But it was too late.
"Zero."
A second later, Roko heard something sharp whistling through the air past him and saw a single circular ice blade arc down towards the cart. Seeing the projectile coming, Sirius cried out in terror and covered his head for the incoming impact. But instead of cutting him, the blade of ice sliced clear through the reins and harness connected to the horses. Free of their equipment and hearing a large object sink suddenly behind them, the horses bolted, running away without the carriage.
"W-wait!" The cabbie cried out in surprise.
"You idiot! Get me another horse!"
"Yes sir! I'll prepare another carriage!"
"I don't need a carriage! Just get me a horse so I can escape!"
"But sir, your stuff-"
"DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE?!"
"And that..." Roko sighed as he looked down at the chaos he caused, "Is a wrap."