[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

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The bug Queen's body went limp as Alvios' blade struck her eye socket and dug into her brain. Jenso's feats also appeared successful. The bug general spun around as quickly as he could and rose his blade to defend, but was knocked off his feet straight afterwards, and obliterated as the ground beneath its head crumbled beneath the blow of Jenso's attack. The swarmlings ceased their spawning, and the cave grew quiet.

But just as their victory was assured, several swarmlings carried something into the room. A body, wrapped in seaweed. Why weren't the swarmlings dead? What the hell was going on?

Suddenly, the Queen's body ruptured, and released another humanoid entity. It jumped up and landed on a higher ledge, where the first bug general had first introduced himself. It was a woman. An all-too familiar woman. Her torso bared a giant scar, as if she'd been cleaved in twain at some point, but her face was as vivid and beautiful as ever.

"Justice?" The woman said, in a softer voice that crept across the room like a fetid memory, caressing the scar across her stomach. Jenso would find familiarity in her face as well, albeit subtle.

Cilia glared at Alvios and narrowed her eyes.

"Is this... Justice?"

---

~ End Of Chapter 114 ~

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~ Chapter 115 ~

_{A Maiden's Blood}

Cilia looked down to Alvios and Jenso with a blank expression, pointing across the room towards the swarmlings that carried a wrapped body.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios looked up at Cilia, dumbstruck. She was...alive? The blades of light in his hand began fading away, as did the pseudo-armor around his forearms and shins. He was struck by flashbacks; her screaming, tearful face as the Swarm infested her. The cold sweat threatening to slide the blade from Alvios' hands. Her fear as cold iron resolve overtook him. Better to die fast than suffer. Better to spare her guilt lest something happen.

Why did s-she have to die, Alvy?! Why my big sis?!

Don't cry, Melina... she'd want you to be strong. And I'll be here protecting you, alright? Nobody will have to die again. I promise...

"Cilia... I... I did it so this wouldn't happen! I never wanted this! I wanted you to be at peace...! How... how did they still take you?! I KILLED YOU!" His breathing was heavy, unstable. Jenso would understand now why the Swarm would take humans; to break down their resolve to kill loved ones.

He turned, slowly, to look at where Cilia was pointing. A wrapped body. Someone from the surface, likely to replace the dead hive queen. To replace Cilia.

"Oh no..."

[Jensoman]

Jenso blinked and stared at the woman before him. He seemed to recognise her face from somewhere...or was it just his imagination? He looked over his shoulder, towards the wrapped body that came into the room. 'Darn it, we're too late..!' He thought, and turned to Alvios as he mentioned Cilia. "Wait, this is Cilia....?" He muttered, and noticed Alvios's state as he was shocked and his light powers seemed to fade. He glared at Cilia as anger overcame him.

"You....YOU FUCKING MONSTERS...!!" He roared violently, as he crossed his arms. "Omega..."

...OVERHEAT!!!

He roared, uncrossing his arms as white flames violently bursted out of his body. His pupils changed into white flames as he took a combat stance.

"I'm GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!!" He roared at Cilia, angry that the creatures were toying with Alvios's feelings. He turned to Alvios, and placed his hand on his shoulder. The flames didn't seem to hurt his friend at all. "This isn't Cilia, Alvios...you were right all along. These things are trying to manipulate you, and I won't let it happen! I'm with you, ALL THE WAY!!"

[tex]

Cilia's expression didn't change at Jenso's outburst. She glared down at Alvios, ignoring the bombastic golden-clad man, overcome by a quiet anger that rippled through her vertebrae. "I didn't need to be killed," She growled, "You didn't offer me a shred of peace. I begged you, I prayed... Scrambled across the ground, desperately searching for sanctuary, but still.." Cilia's jaw tightened for a moment. A sheen overtook her pupils as she continued, choking back tears and spastic breaths, "And now... Now, look at what I've become." The woman rose her hands and exposed her body, coated in purple crystals and fetid pinkish skin. "I told you," She whispered, "I said I could overcome it. I told you that I could purge it. Alvios... Don't... I begged... Begged... I wasn't weak. Not like Apollo, not like the other women who were stolen. I could have freed myself." She looked to the seaweed casket and clenched her fist. "You took her from me. You took me from her, all to satisfy your own corrupt righteousness. All to satisfy your pride."

The swarmlings began to tear away the Seaweed, revealing Melina. The beginning stages of infestation were setting in. Her skin was covered in purple blotches, and her consciousness faded in and out. The young girl looked up to Alvios and struggled violently to raise her arm, to no Avail.

"You had no faith in me"

"A..Alvi..."

"Not until now, when all hope has been lost, do you tremble and hesitate

"H-Help.."

"Pathetic"

[Hatman1801]

"You..." Alvios' eyes widened as he looked at the transformation on Melina. Just as it had started with Cilia. His body stiffened, and he looked back at Cilia, eyes glowing. His sword tore itself from the distant ground, and flew into an outstretched hand, clad in light now.

"What is this, then? Vengeance?! This isn't right! Even... even if you could have saved yourself, why did you drag Melina into this?! If you were strong, why did you submit to the Swarm! Why have you let them run amok?! You... You aren't Cilia. You know Melina isn't like you. She will never resist this. And the Cilia I remember would never sacrifice her sister to satisfy some petty revenge." He took a step forward, armor covering his arms and legs once more, although it sparked vaguely with instability.

"In all of us, there is hidden some root of despair, for in all of us, there is pride." He looked up at Cilia, a dark expression on his face. "Fine, then. Call my decision wrong, call it corrupt. But what if you didn't save yourself? What if my softness had gotten me killed, and you became the leader of the Swarm anyway? Who would be left to defend the village?" He readied his blade, narrowing his eyes at Cilia. "I love you, Cilia, but I will not risk the lives of many to save the few, even if it breaks my heart. As the Swarm's queen, I must cut you down again. For Corona. For justice. And I will repent through pain and regret, through nightmares and tears."

Alvios leapt up at Cilia, ready to cut her down again, willing to repeat history for the greater good.

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Cilia bit her lip and leapt far above Alvios, embedding one of her hands into the ceiling of the room and looking down at him and Jenso. "You will not keep us apart," She whispered to herself, "I will tear your pride from you, through the very flesh that binds it!

---

~ End Of Chapter 115 ~

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~ Chapter 116 ~

_{Sadness And Pride, Battle For Melina!}

Cilia scanned the rooms with he crystal eyes and clenched her free fist. Crystal shards rose from the ground, all around, not aimed to injure anyone directly. She then let herself drop down, coating her entire body in concealing crystals, hiding everything but her eyes.

[Jensoman]

Jenso smiled in relief as Alvios still intended to keep fighting. His resolve was strong, and it was something that Jenso respected greatly. While Alvios and Cilia were speaking, he had more than enough time to restore Pij. He took note of the crystals that rose from the ground. When Cicilia dropped down towards them, he prepared to launch a rocket punch at her stomach with his left fist. Pij emerged from his chest again and took flight into the air, flying closer near Alvios as she waited for Cilia to attack.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios followed suit, grabbing his sword with both hands as he touched the ground from his earlier leap. The blade was completely covered in the unstable light now, and as he swung a sword wave at Cilia, the attack looked more like lightning than solidified light. Intending to use it alongside Jenso's punch as direct attacks, he ran around in an arc, looking to try and get to a spot behind Cilia where he could blindside her with the follow-up attack.

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Cilia's eyes glistened for a split second as Jenso aimed to strike her. She met his punch with her own fist, matching it completely, and even pushing against his overheat form's power. Where the hell did it come from? It was almost like she completely drained the energy from his attack and used it against him? Hie armour glowed brightly, and her eyes glistened again, as did every crystal in the room. As Alvios' strike came towards her, she flipped backwards, releasing herself from the tug of war with Jenso, and narrowly dodging Alvios' attack. She landed gently, and her eyes glistened again. As Alvios appeared behind her, she spun around and summoned a blade made of pink crystal, swiping at Alvios with it immediately. How was she predicting their movements so easily? Even more worrisome, how could she go toe to toe with Jenso?

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as the force of Cilia's punch matched his own. He took note of something else though, as the exchange happened. 'Pij..' he thought for a moment.

Pij heard Jenso's thoughts through their mental link clearly, and flapped her wings powerfully. She launched a flurry of super-heated feathers at the crystals that were around the room. They moved at the speed of bullets. As Pij did this, Jenso dashed towards Cilia immediately, aiming another rocket punch at her lower back this time. He made sure to time it that he would strike right after Pij's feathers were about to strike the crystals.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios didn't react with much emotion when the crystal blade parried his own. His focus was on trying to keep collected. He let her blade push his back, instead letting go with one hand to form a light sword in his off-hand, thrusting at her side. "You don't have to do this, Cilia. It doesn't have to be this way. Don't drag Melina down with you!"

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Cilia winced at Alvios' comment, allowing his offhand weapon to strike her. It cracked her armour slightly, but bounced off, scoring no significant damage. She snapped out of it and her eyes flickered, but before she could do anything, she felt something strike her back. A large portion of her crystal carapace shattered, revealing her pink skin beneath it as she was launched past Alvios. She tumbled and landed with one hand on the ground, and her feet dragging against the dirt.

"You did this!" She shouted, raising her hand. The room began to flood with Swarmlings, exiting through the corpse that she'd left behind. Despite Alvios disabling it, the queen's old body seemed perfectly capable of spawning new creatures. "You're responsible! This is all your fault!" The crystals all around her had been shattered while she had been distracted. She looked around angrily and bit her lip beneath the crystal veil. Crystals jutted out from the ceiling moments later, and her eyes flickered. "This is how it must be! So... Stop it!" Cilia rushed forward, spawning a second blade of crystal in her other hand. "Get out out of my way!"

[Hatman1801]

Alvios rushed towards her as well, ready to clash blades. "You would keep the Swarm alive and curse Melina to the same fate as you, all because of what I did?! Fine!" Alvios decided to take a gamble. He suddenly threw his blade aside, and dematerialized the light sword in his other hand, slowing his run and spreading his palms in a defenseless stance.

"Then run me through, and get it over with. Impale me."

[tex]

Cilia did not slow down. She sped up, eyes narrow and grip tightened. Tears welled down one side of her face, but it didn't make a difference. She rose both hands and cross-slashed towards Alvios' Chest without hesitation, aiming to dispatch him immediately.

[Jensoman]

Jenso's eyes widened as he noticed what Alvios was doing. He stomped his left foot on the ground, and then dashed towards his ally. He grabbed Alvios by the back of his shirt, aiming to pull him out of the way of Cilia's attack. "Alvios! Are you crazy?!" He shouted.

Where Jenso struck his foot earlier, a white flame wave erupted and launched towards the swarmlings that were headed their way.

After his attempt to save Alvios, Jenso moved towards Cicilia's back and launched a torrent of flames at her back, at the exposed spot.

Pij, in the meantime, took aim at the ceiling and fired a flurry of feathers at the crystals on the ceiling, while staying high enough to avoid being struck by the flame wave or the swarmlings.

[tex]

Jenso had absolutely no time to Flank Cilia, and as he moved to save Alvios, her blades struck him instead, slicing deep into his left arm. She followed up and kicked him across the room, just before jumping up towards Pij with his blades at the ready. Her crystals were destroyed once again, but now Pij was open for attack, and Cilia wasn't going to let her escape with minor injuries this time.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios' eyes widened suddenly as Jenso interrupted his plan. He supposed he should have expected his hotheaded reaction. "Damn it all, Jenso!" He couldn't stop to help him immediately; Cilia had to be stopped; Melina's infection was spreading, and it may already be too late for the young girl.

He began seeing the crystalline figure jumping towards Pij less and less as his former lover, and more and more as the true Swarm Queen. His greaves flickered for a moment as he kicked up after her as quickly as possible, forming blades in his hands again, looking to stab her through the back.

[Jensoman]

Jenso landed back on the ground, gritting his teeth in pain as he glared at his friend. "Dumbass, this is no time for you to kill yourself. What about your resolve?!" He shouted at his friend, looking up as he noticed what Cilia was doing. As Alvios charged at her, he formed a flame whip in his hands. He launched it forwards past Alvios, aiming to wrap the end around her waist. He slammed the beginning of the whip into the ground near him and yanked it twice, in order for the whip to pull Cicilia away from Pij and reel her in towards Alvios at top speeds, hoping to increase the damage of Alvios's attack severely. Jenso jumped further back afterwards.

Pij flew to the opposite direction from where Cilia was and flew downwards while using the gravity to her advantage, trying to distance herself away from her. She launched another flurry of knives at her afterwards, as a distraction for Alvios's strike to hit.