The dark blade raised its tip towards the sky, which was beginning to take on orange hues, heralding the coming sunrise. The reddish runes continued to dance their flashes around the sword, and the luminous reflection of the two moons made one of the points of the weapon's star-shaped hilt glow.
As Yugo's outstretched arm quivered with anger and hatred, the muscles of his arm and of the hand that was gripping the sword's hilt flexed under the pressure of the force applied by its user. The fingers clasped around the weapon's handle, were pressed so tightly against the material that their joints were almost white, clear indicator of the inner rage blazing inside the Reaper.
He let out a hateful breath, that escaped from between teeth clenched in fury.
The Negacion saw the weapon glinting in front of him, and stared intently at the tip of the sword, then refocused its gaze on the owner of the said weapon. In its eyes appeared the veil of what seemed to be... regret.
The sight of this infuriated Yugo to no end.
How could this vile creature feel such emotions?
Was it trying to make him feel pity?
NEVER!
He could never accept such an affront. Not when the mere existence of this monster had resulted in the deaths of, only the gods knew, how many innocent people. It was impossible to even think about understanding what this thing felt... If it really felt it.
Violently lowering his sword, Yugo sliced with screaming hatred into a part of the creature's mouth, which didn't even bother to scream.
The Negacion's black blood spilled onto the ground, letting emanate a putrid stench of decomposed organic matter.
Other people wanted to do the very same, but as soon the first one of them made a step forward, Yugo gave them a glare so charged with anger that the man took fright and immediatly shrank back, trembling.
The young Reaper lifted the sword again, still sticky with black blood, and quickly cut his own palm, turning it towards the ground. The blood, and that of the monster mixed with the soil.
Beneath clenched teeth, he breathed heavily and thrust the blade into the ground, right where the two bloods were now forming a dark red puddle.
The Kilith in his body began circulating. But instead of doing so sparingly, and thus limiting the damage to his own body, Yugo poured out so much energy that his body pulsed violently, his eyes revealing narrowed pupils.
Still, he closed his eyes and continued to circulate far too much Kilith for his own good.
...Only the purge of this foul existence, laying in front of his eyes, was what mattered in the present moment for Yugo.
Willfors, now aware of the perils the young Reaper was incurring, was keen to point out his exaggeration, but from where he stood, the back of the emissary of shadow appeared to be similar to that of a giant. The tension emanating from Yugo's Kilith seemed to create a current with a voltage much higher than his own lightning.
The knight instinctively knew, deep down, that trying to reason with Yugo at that moment would clearly have been a stupidly foolish act, that could result in a fatal sentence, for whoever was imbecile enough to even try him.
So, like everyone else present, the knight-banneret stood back, practically unable to move.
At the same moment, the creature, which until then had seemed determined to accept its miserable end, opened its half-missing maw and extended its — now not so long — cut-filled, and bruised black tongue.
The two remaining mandibles snapped with something akin to the force of last resort, slicing through the gustatory appendage as the sound of cackling resounded all around the esplanade. As for the sliced tongue, it writhed on the ground like an earthworm exposed to the burning light of the sun.
But then, the black tongue suddenly seemed to come to a statuary state, flying off in a billow of dark dust that dissolved in the air, then the dust gathered above the creature's head. The same happened to several of the other parts of the Negacion's body that had been turned to stone.
In the end, a single tear came out of one of the monster's eye sockets, the one with the eye hanging out of it, and merged with the ball of black dust levitating above the beast.
The dark sphere released a sinister Kilith that swirled violently.
Aleone, who could see this from the column where she and her group were, felt an ominous shiver run through the entirety of her spine. Having felt the same in first seat, just a few hours back, she was the most keen to understand what abomination was about to happen.
So, she tried to warn everyone gathered around the beast by shouting to the others, how urgent it was to stop Yugo.
Indeed, she had learnt from her own experience that a strong enough negative emotion, could cause the Negacion to regain its strength. Since the said emotion was more than enough to corrupt the concentrated surrounding natural Kilith. Even just for a little bit.
...And a little bit of concentrated corruption is all a Negacion needed.
Willfors tried again to approach, but as he took a step forward, Yugo's now scarlet Kilith came into contact with a part of his armour, which shattered and evaporated as if it were a mere piece of hardened sand.
'If I get any closer, I'll die!' thought the knight, terrified.
"No-one come nearer!" he ordered.
He turned his gaze to the mayor's secretary and wife, and shook his head miserably, showing her the impossibility of this action.
At that very moment, anyone who attempted to stop the young reaper would just end up as collateral damage. This information was now sparkly ingrained in the mind of all, without a word ever needing to be said.
Aleone desperately clutched a flap of her dress, her frustration rekindled by the memory of her own hatred towards the bishop, which had resulted in the rebirth of the monster laying before them.
Karlen squeezed his wife's shoulder affectionately. Looking at him, her eyes clouded with tears, she noticed that his gaze was fixed on the emissary of the shadows, but his hand on her shoulder was slightly trembling.
Was it fear? Frustration? Or something else?
She couldn't tell, but Aleone could clearly see that something was boiling inside her husband.
He looked at her and whispered through clenched teeth.
"There's... nothing we can do."
Refocusing her vision on the young man at the centre of the esplanade, whose scarlet hair was floating in the early morning breeze, Aleone scowled and let out sorrowful breath escape.
Talking about the reaper, Yugo, for his part, continued to concentrate his energy, imitated by his opponent.
The two masses of energy intermingled at some point in the air, fusing into a dark crimson colour from which sparks flew out, setting fire to and burning everything they touched, forcing the observers in the background to move even further away, at the insistence of the knight-banneret and the mayor.
On the entire surface of the esplanade, only Yugo and the Negacion now remained.
Suddenly, as the sun revealed the upper tip of its spherical form — releasing vivid rays that veiled the sky and earth in their orange and yellowish glow — Yugo's Kilith stopped flowing, and the wave of energy disappeared abruptly.
He opened his mouth and cast his spell.
"May the words of the prophet spread like the carefree flow of water.
May the starless sky unite with the inexhaustible source of souls.
May the scarlet light illuminate the white void.
May the dawn of time retrace its curve at this point.
May death burn the impurity with its black flames.
May the tarnished mother awaken in blood.
May the lamb throw itself into the soothing fire..."
Just like the first time he had used this spell against this monster, debris began to float, and the ground shook a little. The absence of the daggers around him was quickly noticed, however, as flashes of scarlet energy snaked around him, indiscriminately destroying everything they touched.
The madness and dangerosity of the spell forced anyone present to step back
As for the black sphere of energy, it compressed to the size of a marble, producing a concentrated pulse of energy so dense that the shockwaves caused by the infamous beating of the black ray paled in comparison.
Yugo continued to chant, adding new lines to his spell.
He wasn't supposed to be doing this. Such an act was pure and simple madness, but in his current mental state, Yugo clearly didn't care what happened to his body.
The jumble daze of thoughts in his head had been swept away by a sort of great gale, and a single thought, more of an order than anything else, persisted in invading the void that now stood.
'Kill the Negacion.'
Not purify, or exorcise, or whatever pompous verb was synonymous with cleansing the evil this creature embodied.
Just kill.
To hell with protocol. To hell with his safety, and above all, to hell with positive attitude and forgiveness.
This hellspawn before him didn't deserve any!
Unfortunately, this single, violent thought was what was now driving the young man to add new lines of incantation to a spell that was already inherently perilous for the user. And he knew it.
One day, during his classes at the Reaper 's Training Academy, he had asked the expert professor what would happen if you added incantatory lines to a spell whose weave of the webs of Kilith was already too condensed and complex.
To put it simply, destruction of the Kilith's circulation vessels was among the answers... as was death.
But no matter.
At the very moment when Yugo continued to incant, none of this had any real value. His only will was to put an end to the putrid existence of the Negacion.
As he continued, the words flowed out of his mouth, without him really grasping the extent of dangerosity and madness behind the use of this current spell.
But he honestly didn't care the slightest... or even wanted to care.
And to be honest.... Who cares, anyway?
"May the orb of a thousand wishes shatter into a firmament of blood.
May the mirror of inner truth reveal the nothingness of creation.
May the primeval flame blaze anew.
May the dark soul dissolve.
May the night lord be absolved..."
He sighed deeply and opened his eyes.
"...May the everlasting scythe sever the evil weed."
Immediately, a gigantic line of scarlet energy took shape above Yugo, morphing into a scythe of energy, originating from the Reaper's swarm of Kilith. It was positioned horizontally, the tip of the energy blade pointing towards the sky - which was now beginning to take on its first hints of the usual azure blue and light green.
The ball of dark energy rose in a similar manner.
"Nib Kilsod"
No sooner had he finished saying this last line, than the energy scythe suddenly straightened up and split the air, causing a deafening whistle that was so high-pitched that the ears of some of the distant spectators whistled horribly, others even bleeding.
It passed through the marble of dark energy and swiftly sliced through the dying beast lying beneath it.
The two black entities separated and shattered with a sound reminiscent of cracking glass.
The halves of the small sphere of dark Kilith evaporated in the cool dawn wind. As for Negacion, it continued its process of transformation into status, but instead of having traces of grey rock, it was invaded by cracks of black, the same shade as its skin.
The gigantic creature collapsed into a dozen pieces of debris that turned to dust as soon as they touched the ground.
Then the pile of black sand also flew away, leaving nothing behind.
Yugo let himself fall and held his chest. A violent coughing fit hit him and he coughed up blood again.
The scythe behind him quickly disappeared, like evaporating liquid.
Doctor Tory, Karlen, Aleone and Lavitha rushed out onto the esplanade, and the doctor immediately picked up a stethoscope and the thermometer that she stuffed into the reaper's mouth.
After taking a reading and examining Yugo's heartbeat, she lifted his head and shook it slowly from side to side. Immediately the beep sounded. She picked up the thermometer and looked at the readings.
"38° of temperature and 62% of Kilith!"
"What does that mean? Is he in danger again?" asked Lavitha.
The doctor sighed, astonished by what she was seeing.
"N-No... in fact he's quite healthy!"
The man concerned turned with difficulty, positioning himself on his back, and opened his mouth.
"I'm... just... too exhausted."
But no one trusted that self-discited diagnostic. Not after the first time.
But then Tory reassured:
"He is, indeed, just tired!"
Aleone stroked the young man's forehead.
"Then rest, Master Yugo."
Karlen approached.
"B-But... er... if the monster has... uh... disappeared... then..."
He hesitated to continue his sentence, nervous about whether what he was about to say was a good thing or a bad thing. Lingering for a couple of seconds, he swallowed and blew out his breath.
"It's... um... over?! We've... won! D-Didn't we?"
Yugo breathed hard, then exhaled, and spoke.
"Yes.... But...."
He turned his head towards the rest of the esplanade, glancing in the direction of the many bodies of citizens and soldiers who had fallen during this battle, which shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"I don't think we can call this a victory."
The people around him lowered their heads.
At the same time, Willfors, Rickard and Luka, as well as a small group of people joined the reaper and the others around him. The rest set about collecting the bodies of the citizen-combatants who had died in the battle.
The small group stopped a few paces from Yugo and company, and Karlen, sensing that they had something to say, helped Yugo to his feet.
Rickard opened his mouth.
"Young Master, tonight we have lost many of our fellow citizens. And—"
"It's all my fault! I deeply apologise!" interrupted Yugo at once, his eyes full of remorse, and apprehensive about what might follow.
In his mind, the bodies strewn across the ground were rising up and demanding justice for their untimely deaths. In fact, they weren't supposed to die tonight.
Not them, nor any of the citizens who had been unable to find refuge in time. Let alone those who had died in the damage caused by the first attack.
In fact, no one was expected to lose their lives in this particular mission... apart from Yugo, maybe.
As a reaper, and especially as an emissary of the shadows, he knew full well that his life could end at any moment during a mission, even those that seemed relatively 'simple'.
But the situation was different for ordinary civilians. In the mission objectives of every reaper — be they "greys", "goldens", "azures", "ardents", "shadows" or even more — there was always mention of protecting civilians. It was the most crucial element for them, no matter how high up on the list of mission objectives it was.
Only intelligence quests could do without the mention (Protect and evacuate civilians) on their mission's objectives. But the top brass of the SCYTHE organisation, as well as the reapers themselves, knew that this condition could not always be respected.
That was the reason for adding the note (reduce collateral damage) right next to the objective of evacuating and securing civilians. So when a commanding Reaper felt that he couldn't ensure the safety of everyone under his jurisdiction — be it civilians or low-ranked Reapers — he at least had a duty to protect as many people and property as possible.
But tonight, that was by no means the case.
Not only had Yugo failed to save a definite number of people, but over a hundred citizens, if not more, who had nothing to do with the war between the Negaciones and the reapers, had decided that night to fight and sacrifice themselves to 'help' Yugo accomplish his mission.
Of course, there were many circumstances that could explain what turned out to be a devastating failure for Yugo, such as the fact that the Negacion on this mission was an anomaly, the result of a conspiracy spanning more than a decade, or that foreign forces had caused the destruction of the barrier that was supposed to protect the inhabitants of Stravagon. Or even greater still: the absence of a local Reaper garrison in Stravagon.
But that, in no way detracted from the essential point of the whole night.
He had failed.
He clenched his fists, the vision of the consequences of his weakness etched in his mind.
'Weakness is a sin!'
He bowed his head, ready to suffer the insults and hatred that the townsfolk would surely hurl at him.
"I failed miserably in my mission and involved you in this massacre... Nothing I can say is going to change that..."
Gritting his teeth, he shivered, and continued:
"But please don't blame the SCYTHE agency, or the mayor of your city."
Barely after saying that, Yugo separated himself from Karlen, and bowed to all present.
The citizens, as well as the knights of the Order of the Solar Falcon, pulled faces ranging from astonishment to fear.
Rickard stepped forward, leaning firmly on his crutch, and raised his arm. On his face, a dark expression was seen.
Yugo squeezed his eyes shut, anticipating the blow that would come — and they would be right to hit him.
But Rickard's open palm rested on Yugo's head and stroked his hair.
"What are you talking about, Master Yugo?! We just wanted to thank you!"
The young man, surprised by this unexpected reaction, raised his head suddenly.
"W-What? Why? I-"
"You rescued, helped and protected the people of this town, risking your own life in the process. You defeated that monster. You saved us, young master!" Said the amputee, his face relaxing.
Aleone also intervened:
"What's more, without you, we would have continued to host the people at the root of our city's misfortune."
As she said this, she looked at the once beautiful and enormous stellar cross, the symbol of this city's religious pride, which was now resting against a surviving section of the edge of the altar located in the remains of the main hall of the destroyed cathedral.
Refocusing her gaze on Yugo, she sighed sorrowfully and continued.
"For that, we thank you!"
Yugo looked at her, mire than surprised to ear such praising words. But for some reason, he felt that it was much more meaningful than he could think of, when it came to Aleone uttering the said words.
He remained motionless of a bit, then lingered, and finally lowered his head.
"Yes! Without you, we'd all still be under the influence of those false prophets who manipulated us!' shouted someone in the crowd.
"That's right!" nodded some.
"Exactly, we owe you our freedom!" confirmed others.
Karlen separated himself from the young man and faced him.
"And above all, you taught us... you taught me... that running away from difficulties never solves anything!" he said, clenching his fist.
He bowed to Yugo, imitated by almost everyone present.
When they straightened up, Rickard burst out laughing for a moment, but then stopped and grimaced while holding his sidee — his face contorted with a somewhat painful expression.
But more than the pain on his pain, it was the sudden laugh which surprised everyone.
After a second of struggle with his, lightly, battered body, Rickard smiled widly and spoke:
"Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see our dear mayor bow three times in one day!" he said, still holding his stomach.
Aleone looked at him, turned her gaze twoards her husband, then laughed too.
"You're right, Ricky!"
Karlen and Yugo stared at the two of them, and looked at each other with a quizzical expression.
"R-Ricky?....Y-You... know each other?" asked Karlen.
At these words, Rickard scowled, and just a moment after sighed with sincere deception written on his face.
"Ah... you'd really forgotten me!" the man finally said.
Aleone grabbed her friend's hand and spoke up.
"Come on, darling! Remember! It's the one you stabbed with your knife back then!"
Karlen, seeing the memory of his shameful deed flooding back, flushed. His face suddenly turned bright red.
"Y-You! You were with Leo in the red vipers?!" he said, pointing at the cripple.
"Yep, it's been a while, hasn't it?" replied Rickard with a smile.
Karlen lowered his head and sighed.
Yugo, a little confused by what was going on, quietly asked for an explanation.
"Ah... Well, it's a long story, but basically my husband was quite rebellious a few years ago, and he caused an incident that landed Ricky in hospital." Aleone said, almost laughing, memories of that time flooding back into her mind.
"Ah, I see! That's... surprising coming from you!" exclaimed Yugo, still puzzled.
"Well, for me, the most astonishing thing was that this guy bowed down to us all to apologise, and on top of that, urged us to come and fight this monster! That was a real shock! "Rickard replied, raising his arm.
"Agreed! Realising that our famous coward in charge successfully managed to convince us all to help him fight an abomination such as a Negacion, that's historic in itself! Said Doctor Tory.
Yugo, still intrigued, looked at the mayor, then at Aleone. She noticed him and sighed.
"Um... to put it simply, let's just say that my beloved husband, here, has the reputation of being a big coward." She said, covering her eyes with her hand and turning her head away.
Karlen also hid his face with both hands, holding them down.
"But at least now we know that he was doing all this to protect his family." Said someone in the crowd.
"Yes! He's braver than we thought. It's not easy to make an entire town hate you just to protect the ones you love!" Another nodded.
The mayor raised his head, his facial expression expressing an emotion lost somewhere between shame and joy.
"I-I..."
"You don't have to say it... We know!' cut in Doctor Tory.
"But still, I didn't know you had the guts to be as crazy as to challenge a bunch of lunatics!" added rickard in an amused tone.
Karlen looked at him, and then laughed.
They all laughed afterwards.
But then, after a moment of joyful break, Rickard coughed and cleared his throat.
"On a more serious note... What do we do now?!"
All heads went down.
Yugo, wrongfully aware that the vast majority of what had happened tonight was his fault — despite what the locals might say — looked round the esplanade.
"I wouldn't know what to say to you... apart from start afresh."
Rickard patted the young boy hard, but affectionately, on the shoulder and looked at him.
"And you're right, young master!" he said with a smile.
Karlen followed Yugo's example and looked around the esplanade.
He exhaled, already tired of the paperwork ahead of him.
"It's a bitter victory." he said.
"Yes... A bitter end to all this!" added his wife, as she saw the bodies of the citizens and knights being lined up by the survivors.
Yugo looked up at the morning sky, which had now unfolded its bi-coloured veil of azure and lime green.
A pair of monarch swallows hovered and twirled in the sky, their four wings outstretched and proudly displaying the wing patterns that let in a little sunlight under the thin membrane below, and their chirping echoed across the celestial firmament.
Lavitha followed the reaper's gaze, and watched the two majestic birds perform their aerial dance.
She brought the hand that held the engagement ring, which her betrothed had given her as a token of their mutual love, closer to her face. Sobbing, she lowered her head, letting her forehead touch the ring.
Doctor Tory moved closer to her and hugged her, whispering reassuring words:
"It's going to be all right. Everything's going to be all right. It's over."
Yugo looked at the scene and exhaled. The mayor's wife's words echoed in his mind again.
'A bitter end to all this.'
He picked up his sword and clenched it in his hand.
"A bitter end, indeed." he sighed.
Sitting down on some rubble, he lowered his head, as the others looked around.