Duo Dangers

Hisoki has been making his way through the desert for about forty minutes. The heat and hot winds are so much that Hisoki has to break for a moment, pull out a scroll and cast ’temperate’ on himself. Which dissolves the scroll and protects him from the heat, humidity, and other extreme climates. As he’s picking up his wand and weapon, he hears “Move!” and is tackled from behind, not hearing her over the winds! The person tackling him is none other than Maiyori! He looks up at her but as he’s about to worry about her grabbing the number on his chest, she rolls them both out of the way of a massive centipede that comes tunneling for them out of the ground. The thing is huge. It might be big enough to be seen from the tundra.

With a panicked expression, Hisoki stands and faces the centipede that has overshot its attack by many meters. “Not that I don’t appreciate the save; why help me? You could have just grabbed my number and teleported us out!” he asks her.

She stands and dusts herself off. “That would be highly dishonest… Adonai would not permit such treachery. Allow me to assist you in slaying this beast.”

“That would mean a lot. I’ve been walking for a bit, so anything you can do will help.” he says, preparing to fight. She, however, begins praying, muttering something. Hisoki begins to glow with something of an enhancement. He feels lighter, his fatigue is completely gone, and, most of all, he puts away the wand and keeps the sword.

“I have enhanced your abilities with the lord’s grace. You should be able to easily dispatch this creature.” she then just waits patiently.

Hisoki has never felt faster, sure he has the instant thrust, but his movements right now are consistent and turn the sand beneath his shoes into glass. He draws a line straight up through the top of the centipede running along its body. Splitting it clean in half and running back down before it collapses. “I’ve never felt enhancements like that before! This is great! Is this why you and Augy are such a good team?”

“Yes…” she reaches and grabs Hisoki’s mask to try and pull it off. He suddenly moves his head back. “Excuse my rudeness. Again. I happened to also try to ask Adonai to remove your curse. It seems he was not merciful enough to do so.”

“Or maybe he just can’t?” he puts away his sword. “Doesn’t seem like he can cure your brother, does it?” Hisoki genuinely asks.

“You’re wrong!” she lets out an outburst and covers her mouth. “Pardon me… Adonai’s ways are mysterious and he has a plan for everyone, including you, Hisoki. Letting him into your heart gives you strength unlike any other.”

“Certainly felt like it, oh except God Knights.” he says. “I’ve never seen anything match them except another one.”

She grips her hands tight. “They too are mere conscripts within his plan for us all…” she mutters a few words of prayer specifically for her brother as Hisoki hears his name twice.

Hisoki can’t help but smile at her conviction. “Does believing in Adonai bring you happiness?” he says holding her shoulders.

She nods. “I have hope that I will be given the ability to help all through his hands. Curses shall be a thing of myth if I’m blessed with his grace.”

“Then believe, even if I don’t. Even if others call you a fool for having faith. A real fool lets someone else tell them what they should or shouldn’t believe in. I wasn’t trying to downplay your belief, religion has just never done anything for me.” Hisoki tells her to try and lift her spirits a bit.

“You’ve tried to believe in a god?” she asks. “You seem so distant from the spiritual.” They begin walking toward the forest while they talk.

“I’ve actually had to master a lot of aspects of the spiritual to deal with this curse of mine. Even after all of that training my curse still found a way to mess with me.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do? I came to terms that Adonai is the one truth in this world.”

“When I say spiritual, I’m actually talking about the senses… See. If the spirit exists, then there must be a link between the mind and the spirit right? When you dream, those senses are laid bare. Exposed. And they take form based on what your memories and understanding of reality are. That can affect your spirit if it exists. I had to master every single aspect of myself internally to not lose my mind from the nightmares I have.”

“Nightmares, your curse delivers nightmares to you, does it?”

Hisoki looks at her for a moment. Not meaning to say that. “Yes, every night I have nightmares. They are very intense and very real. Every Sunday, though, I fall asleep for twenty-four hours. These nightmares last so long I tend to forget what is real and what isn’t when I wake up. Recently I figured out something with the help of Vic. I can’t laugh in my nightmares.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how are you so sure you’ve mastered all of the senses if you can’t stop simple nightmares?” she asks, which makes Hisoki stop walking.

“These nightmares aren’t simple. Before I mastered the senses, time itself was changed to make me experience the dreams in my mind for as long as possible like a prison. A single night could be fifteen years of pain or horror. Now that I’ve mastered the senses, the nightmares can no longer use the altering of time within my mind because I’ve mastered that. It has to stay true to the hours I am asleep for. So now it tries something else, making it as realistic as possible without harming me directly unless there’s proper setup. It tries to convince me that the dream is reality.”

“That… Is impossible to deal with. There’s no way that you can do that.”

“Well, it was impossible until Vic helped me figure out I can’t laugh in my dreams. The dreams can’t really stop that either. The point behind the dreams is to make me suffer.” Hisoki starts walking again. “By the way, aren’t you burning up?”

She shakes her head no. “The will of Adonai protects me from climates.”

“Certainly seems useful, I’m assuming you just want to find your brother?”

“Correct, then our partnership can end if you like. You seem like a good opponent for Augustus.”

“I don’t see why it has to end. We would do more by having each other’s support. Plus, Augy and Vic would get to work together!” Hisoki says as they finally reach the forest.

“That would make sense, so we have a proper truce so we four may become knights?”

“Yes, hang on-do you hear that?” Hisoki asks, listening intently. Footsteps, someone is stomping through the forest. Metal… It’s getting louder, closer, and suddenly a tree explodes from an armored man pushing through with a poleaxe, using his extensive force. He spots Hisoki and Maiyori and walks up to them, weapon ready. It’s Gradia.

“Good, a couple of fair opponents I can fight.” he admits. “Show me your techniques, little nun…” he raises his weapon.

Maiyori hides behind Hisoki as he puts together that by enhancing him, she’s defenseless right now. The poleaxe comes down fast and Hisoki catches it on his sword. Gradia attempts a disarm but Hisoki just lets his sword fall instead of getting hooked and catches it with the other hand, slicing through the leg armor but missing the flesh entirely. The enhancement is lessening. He’s not nearly as fast or as strong as he was at the peak of it.

“You cut through my enchanted armor… Which means you’re the one I need to worry about.” Gradia admits, executing a perfect pommel strike against Hisoki’s current sword arm, causing a spider-web feeling reaction throughout his muscles. He doesn’t release his weapon, though. Which Gradia is already following up with a chest poke. Hisoki shoves Maiyori backwards and moves left, cutting his non-sword arm with the tip of the poleaxe. Maiyori casts a spell that instantly heals the wound. Which makes Gradia turn his attention to her.

Before he strikes, Hisoki fishes for a smoke ball and chucks it at his feet. After it explodes, Hisoki attempts to slice the back of his knees but he jumps over the slice! Shifting his landing to stomp on the jester! Hisoki didn’t expect the man to leap a full meter off of the ground. He rolls out of the way as his foot comes down, followed by the poleaxe, which nearly clips Hisoki’s leg. Gradia breaks off the armor on his arm and a miniature repeating crossbow is revealed. It fires six shots. Hisoki manages to dodge all but two, both of those bolts hitting his shoulders and causing him to fall on his back. Gradia reaches down to grab Hisoki’s number on his chest. Hisoki is reaching in his bag for something when a massive sword comes from deep in the forest, planting itself between Hisoki and Gradia and nearly taking off Gradia’s hand. Behind the massively armored man is Lycogalia.

“Am I interrupting something, Hisoki? I’ve been chasing this guy for half an hour I think.” he says.

Maiyori is already healing Hisoki as the bolts fall out of his shoulders. He stands up and pulls out the wand from earlier. “No, no you’re not, Lyco. Did you want to fight him? You’re not too hurt or anything, right?”

“Hmm… We can fight him together. I’m fine, by the way. It took me a bit to get here because I couldn’t tell which direction he went. Thanks for making the noise. Maiyori, is it? You don’t have to interfere anymore.” Lyco walks forward as Gradia picks up Lyco’s sword in an attempt to throw it at him. It disappears from his grasp and appears in Lyco’s, resting it on his shoulder. Gradia prepares his poleaxe as Hisoki and Lyco stand on opposite sides of him.

“Come on then, I’m ready when you are!” Gradia says. Lyco slices with the massive sword, forcing Gradia to block while Hisoki attempts to thrust into the wedge of his armor. Gradia kicks Hisoki’s hand, causing him to lose his sword, so Hisoki draws a line with the wand.

“Slash!” Hisoki yells. The line he draws starts from the ground, going up Gradia’s foot, along his leg, across his torso, and ends after his shoulder. That entire segment is sliced, even cutting through the trees behind him cleanly. He grunts in sheer pain, yet the man still stands! Even though his armor is cut through completely, his flesh has been cut, and he’s clearly bleeding. He’s still holding his own and begins clashing with Lyco many times before Lyco changes the temperature of his armor to heat up, grabs the poleaxe, and burns through the wood, snapping the weapon in half with just his grip. Switching to cold, he drops the sword and punches Gradia in the helmet, denting it. Gradia stumbles back, his weapon in pieces now. He fires many bolts from his repeating crossbow arm to hit both Hisoki and Lyco.

The arrows themselves phase through the two targets. “What!?” Gradia yells. Firing more as Lyco approaches, they phase through him again. Hisoki appears beside him.

“You acknowledged your sense of pain I caused to you. So now all of your senses are mine.” he hears Hisoki say.

A massive meteor appears over top of Gradia. There’s no dodging it. He prepares himself to catch it! Arms wide. “Come on then!” just as it’s about to land in his arms, he’s punched in the face by two fists. The very illusion itself shatters as Lyco and Hisoki have landed a timed attack against the man’s skull with their punches, enhanced by Maiyori. Launching the man, his body skidding against the ground until he hits a tree. Lyco and Hisoki are huffing from the effort. Even with the enhancement fueling them, the fatigue is setting in faster than Maiyori can replenish it.

“Alright, what’s the plan if he gets up…” Lyco asks, clearly tired.

“I’d say… we lose? I’ve already used two illusions today… I can’t do another without severely limiting my other spells.” Hisoki hates to say, but the only other things on his person would kill the man.

Gradia begins to stand up. He’s still bleeding. He stands at the ready. “Is that it!?” There’s a glint from his eyes behind the helmet like he’s just getting started.

“This guy is insane!” Lyco says while he picks up his sword and Hisoki picks up his. He then asks the jester, “What do we do?”

“I… I don’t know… I could paralyze him, but, I don’t know if that would hold this guy for long!” they have a stare down with him before charging in. They get closer. And closer. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t flinch. They are within a meter of him now and he still doesn’t move! Just as Lyco is about to swing at him, Hisoki stops him! “Wait!”

“For what! He’s right here! You aren’t taking this seriously like you didn’t with the damn girl you almost lost to!” Lyco yells at him.

“No! It has nothing to do with that, listen.” Their heads turned toward Gradia, still standing at the ready position. On his feet, they both can hear… Snoring. “He lost consciousness standing up. We did do too much to him.”

“So, he just got up on his own to lose consciousness?” Lyco asks.

“Not exactly. Gradia seems like the kind of person that doesn’t want to lose while lying down. He’d rather die standing.”

“That’s… Kinda honorable I guess.” he walks over and looks the massive man over. “Huh, you know. I didn’t think I’d be leaving this challenge as the first knight.”

“You what?” Hisoki asks him, stepping forward.

“You know, the first knight to come out a winner. Me.” he says. Standing in front of the unconscious body of Gradia. “Because, he’s mine.”

Hisoki grips his sword tight. “You wouldn’t have gotten him without my illusion.”

“Maybe, but that’s not what matters. Thanks for the help, Hisoki, unless you want to fight me for him. I’ll be taking my leave. Besides. I believe if you leave her after she’s helped you so much, that would be a bad thing. Wouldn’t it?” Lyco asks.

Hisoki looks back at a very tired Maiyori and then back to Lyco. “You’re right, Lyco. I do have better things to do than leave a girl who’s helped me all by herself. Just remember that she helped you deliver that final punch, too.”

Just as Lyco is about to reach for the number on Gradia’s chest, he stops. “What did you say?”

“I said. You’re just as bad as me for wanting to leave her behind because she enhanced you and me when we hit him. Then again, I only considered it. You’re actually about to go through with it. So claim your prize already.” Hisoki is walking back to Maiyori when Lyco readies his weapon.

“No, that’s not what’s going to happen right now. I’ve been pretty okay with you. And you want to call me a hypocrite?”

“Lyco, you are a hypocrite. You say you understand things like like right and wrong. Yet you threatened to shut a woman’s brain off by suffocating her and prevent her from falling over once she loses consciousness just so you can make sure she’s dead. You acted on some twisted… Monstrous instincts.” he says to the slime, practically insulting his nature.

“Oh, that’s it!” Lyco leaps after Hisoki, when the sword comes down it phases through Hisoki’s body. “What the-? When did you?!”

“You think I’d trust you after our last conversation before this challenge? When I asked you if you were hurt, I assumed you were already chasing him. Which let me envelope your senses when you answered. Everything you’ve experienced up until now is real. By the time this illusion ends, Maiyori and I will be long gone. I won’t take your prize. Just know that I can do much worse to someone that pretends to be a human even if I’m not a knight at the end of all of this.”

Lyco plants his sword in the ground within the illusion. “Hisoki…” he chuckles to himself, waiting patiently, staring at the fake Hisoki and Maiyori. “You keep surprising me. You are worthy to be a knight.” The illusion finally ends. Hisoki and Maiyori both fade into nothing, and he walks over to the body of the still standing Gradia. “That doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to be.” he presses his hand over the number on his chest. “Knight.” he and Gradia are teleported away.

Deep in the forest biome, Hisoki has already summoned his tent, made it invisible to everyone except Maiyori and himself, and has set it near a stream. The kobold that lives in the tent has taken Maiyori’s shoes and is cleaning them in the next room while she relaxes on Hisoki’s couch. “Thankfully there are no meal restrictions in this forest.” He brings her some bread. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure if I should answer that. Lyco seemed like a good friend and you placed him in an illusion.” she says, eating the bread.

Hisoki sighs. “I was afraid this would happen… I can only do it three times a day. As tired as I am now, I can’t cast any magic besides my magic items and minor enchantments like invisibility.” he snaps his fingers to try and make something happen. “I can’t even cast sparks right now. I do deserve it though. When you have the ability to take over all of the senses through acknowledgment of a sense through my words or my action… People tend to not want to have anything to do with you.”

“Pardon me, that wasn’t what I meant. This is a challenge, Hisoki. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me very well.” She puts a hand on his hand. “We have a truce. I will honor that.”

“Thank you.” They sit in silence for a while, just trying to think about their next move. “I think I should sleep. I’m not much help right now. I can’t counterspell, I can’t really use my better spells. It’s just best to rest now.”

Maiyori can’t help but agree. “By enhancing you and removing fatigue, I remove my own stamina in the process. As you can tell, your fatigue has already returned to you because I’m no longer holding you up… It’s not a perfect defense, I’m afraid.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself. I understand. I’m going to bed… The best I can offer you is the couch. Or if you’re willing, you could ask my kobold friend for his bed. He’s slept in here before and even likes it more at times.”

She lays back on the couch. “I’ll be just fine here. Thank you for the food.”

“I would have cooked… Just, too tired. There’s fruit in the bowl on the table if you wake up hungry.” Hisoki stumbles his way to his room where the kobold is waiting to catch his arm. “You’re such a good helper.” he tells the little guy as he leads him to bed. Maiyori is trying to get comfortable when, a few minutes later, the kobold comes out with Hisoki’s clothing. Every last piece of the clothing he was wearing. He’s so quiet shutting Hisoki’s door and walking around as to not disturb Maiyori.

Even though she’s tired, she sits up and watches him work. Moving things. Watching him. “Excuse me. As a kobold, should you not be servicing a dragon?” she asks him. Not expecting him to even look at her. “Kobolds tend to serve strong, powerful dragons in hopes of receiving their blessings.”

The kobold doesn’t look at her, although… “Hisoki is my dragon… There is no dragon as strong as he.” the kobold says. “It was Hisoki that gave me the gift of common tongue. His blessing allows me to converse with you.”

Maiyori is stunned by the thought of Hisoki doing something so strange as to give a random creature any form of human speech. “Did you serve a dragon before the jester?”

“Yes, he was a large dragon. A powerful one. He now sits in Hisoki’s room as a small trophy. Hisoki turned him to gold and shrank him so he may have the magic items he was hoarding.”

“Hisoki slew your dragon by turning it into gold?” Maiyori asks in disbelief. There’s no way that he could have. Dragons are notoriously resistant to magic.

“He has spells and items people just don’t understand. It’s because he understands his opponents better than they can ever understand him. He spends his time figuring out others more than he lets anyone figure out him.” he finishes prepping the clothing for washing. “I’ll start the laundry when you both leave; however, your shoes will be ready by the time you wake up.”

“You’re so talkative right now… Why didn’t you talk while Hisoki was awake?”

“You didn’t ask me anything when he was awake. I speak when requested, ma’am. Hisoki asks me to treat other guests he allows in as I treat him. With minor limitations.”

“Not that my lord Adonai would allow for me to act upon such things. What would be your answer if I asked for your master’s weakness?”

“My answer would be… Wait until Sunday for his curse to take him. He’s at his most vulnerable when he’s dormant on Sunday. Like every dragon is when they too go dormant.”

“You would just reveal such things to me? I could betray your master.”

“Of course. You did confirm to me you wouldn’t and not only that. Kobolds live and die by the power of their dragon. If you believe yourself superior. Please, give Hisoki a challenge.”

She’s bewildered more by the lack of care. Although it could be more faith in Hisoki’s ability. She understands now: Hisoki is to this kobold what Adonai is to her. “You truly believe he shall become a knight.”

“It would be unthinkable that he couldn’t.” the kobold says with an absolute tone in his little voice. He then heads to his room without continuing the conversation.

Maiyori lays back, head resting on the soft arm of the couch. Contemplating what she should do as she drifts off to sleep.