Fate Weaver’s Legacy

#108 – Words are overrated anyway

SunOfABeach: I’m just saying that it’s a bad idea
SpoOo0oOon: I agree
SpoOo0oOon: you should rest!

I took a deep breath, let out a sigh, and then opened my eyes to look out into the fancy room with a red carpet leading to the shining black throne above the floor.

“I know, chat! But… this has got to be it! The final boss! I can feel it! I’m so close!”

I could smell my victory and if the dungeon jitters – the term chat came up with for the feeling when I entered a dungeon – were anything to go by, this dungeon was a step above the pool and the crater dungeons, meaning that if I beat it, I could officially call myself stronger than before.

I wanted to be ready for the limit break, since I felt like it was inevitable that I would do it at this point, and whatever horrors awaited me in there were probably much worse than this dungeon.

…Or something.

Was I just justifying a dumb decision to myself? Maybe.

But I still had the quest to get my stuff back from this dungeon and I didn’t think I would have enough time to rerun the whole dungeon again if I quit right now.

So despite feeling like I should really back out… I entered the throne room.

My footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent large room, making the feeling of foreboding skyrocket.

I expected the demon queen to jump out from behind the throne or some random pillar at any moment, but instead… nothing happened for the longest time.

I made it all the way up to the steps leading to the throne and since nothing was happening, I began walking up.

It wasn’t until I stood right in front of the throne, my anxiety sky-high, that I heard the door – wait, wasn’t it much smaller from the other side? – leading to this place slammed shut.

I spun around, eyes searching for my enemy… when the grand door to this place gently opened again and in walked what I assumed to be the final boss of this dungeon.

She looked like a young woman, in some kind of light blue battle dress. She had a large set of feathery wings, a thick reptilian tail, and a pair of horns. All in a shade of light blue to cyan. It actually reminded me of the red woman, except instead of red, she was cyan.

Slowly, unhurriedly, she closed the door behind herself and then turned to face me.

…Not literally, though. Just like everyone else in these dungeons, she didn’t have a face.

I let her, because… there was something about her that stopped me from attacking her. I wasn’t quite sure what, though.

Was it her relaxed mannerisms that went against what I knew from literally everything else in these dungeons? Was it the fact that I’d already sort of faced her in the crater dungeon? Or maybe… did she somehow feel familiar?

Regardless, I stood there, oddly relaxed despite this clearly being the final boss.

She then slowly, peacefully sauntered up to the staircase and began climbing it. Before I knew it, she was standing before me, ‘looking’ at me, despite her lack of face.

She was a fair bit taller than me, so she sort of towered over me… but it didn’t feel threatening.

She put a hand on my head and patted it.

“...Who… Who are you?” I found myself saying.

She tilted her head and tapped a finger on her chin… before doing an exaggerated shrug.

“You… don’t know…?”

She wiggled a finger in front of her and then put it in front of her mouth in a shushing motion.

“Huh?! What do you mean?! You know but you won’t tell me?!”

She nodded.

“Why not?!”

She ‘stared’ at me for a moment before tapping my goggles I was still wearing and then showing three fingers.

“...What?” I said in confusion. “Three… what?”

She ‘sighed’ without actually doing any sighing, then held up one finger on her right hand, and held up her other hand’s palm in front of herself… before a small black fire appeared in it.

I blinked in confusion.

She extinguished the flame and then pointed at her head while holding up two fingers this time.

“Umm… Two is… your head…?” I said, still confused.

She shook her head while continuing to poke her finger next to her head.

“It’s… Intra?”

She nodded happily.

“And one is Ether, so three is…”

I paused, tried to talk myself out of it for a moment, and then sighed in resignation.

“Alright, fine…”

I braced myself and then turned on my goggles’ Tempor vision.

The everpresent eyes were as creepy as ever. But what made it infinitely worse this time was that… the person in front of me seemed to be completely made out of them, rather than just having some attached like I did.

I balked at what I saw before immediately turning off Tempor vision again.

“W-What?!” I shouted as I took a step back. “That… What?! What… are you?!”

She responded by putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head.

“S-Sorry. Just… What even… How…?”

Weren’t the dungeon enemies made out of Ether for the most part? Actually…

I turned on Ether vision.

She glowed brightly in it.

I turned it off and turned on Intra vision.

She was a deep tangle of the green cobwebs.

I turned it off and stared.

So it wasn’t just Tempor, but… What did that mean? And why had she specifically told me to turn on Tempor vision? Did it have something to do with the Fate Weaver?

She once again ‘sighed’ dramatically and shook her head.

“Is it… the Fate Weaver?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Did he… trap you here? Forced you to be a dungeon monster?” I asked, feeling a bit of a chill in my gut at the idea.

She raised her hand and wobbled it in a ‘so so’ motion.

“...What?”

She ‘looked’ up, her body language screaming exasperated, before she looked back at me, pointed at herself, then made a cross with her arms, and then pointed at herself again.

“You… are not… you?”

She wobbled her hand again before giving a light nod.

“Not quite but kinda…? Are you…” I paused, thinking real hard about what she could mean. “Are you… not the real demon queen?”

She gave a firm nod.

“Okay… Who are you, then?”

She tilted her head down and to the side as she scratched her head. Then she perked up while raising a finger, as if coming up with an idea.

Then, she clapped.

The clap echoed in the giant chamber.

I stared.

“Uh… You’re a… clap…?”

I could have sworn she was rolling her eyes at that.

Once again, she clapped and then immediately put a hand to her ear and crouched down, as the clap echoed–

“You’re an echo? Echo of… the real demon queen?”

She nodded vigorously and gave me a thumbs up.

Right. So these dungeon monsters weren’t the actual people from the past, but just… what? Imitations of them?

I continued to stare at the woman, something prodding in my mind…

“Why are you talking to me, then? Everyone else just attacked.”

She did nothing for a moment, before she slowly pointed at herself, then at me, and then made a praying gesture with her hands.

I frowned for a moment, trying to puzzle out what she was saying.

“Are you… asking me for something?”

She nodded.

Then she pointed at me, then at herself, then raised her hand to show four fingers, and finally, she lifted a finger and slid it across her neck in a slashing motion.

I froze.

“You… You want me to kill you four times…?” I asked, feeling appalled at the idea, despite this being a dungeon monster.

She facepalmed… then nodded.

What?

She lifted up her hand to show four again.

“Um…”

Then she showed two and pointed at her head.

“Oh… Uh…”

Wait. Was she saying that there was a fourth kind of mana?!

“What’s four?!”

She crossed her arms and seemed to think really hard for a moment before she seemed to think of something.

She reached out with her arms into the air… and then suddenly, there was a giant war axe in her hands.

It looked very similar to the one I’d gotten from the crater dungeon.

“Uh…”

She pointed at the axe, then pointed at me, and then finally made a fingergun and a ‘pew pew’ motion.

“An axe… and a gun…? And… me…?”

What was she…

Wait.

Axe, gun, clothes.

Those were my soulbound items.

So number four was… soulbound items… soul?

Soulstrike.

My eyes went wide.

“You want me to kill you with Soul Strike?!”

She gave a somber nod.

“Why?!”

She pointed at her self, then spread her arms wide… and then lightly shook her head.

???

“You… aren’t… what?”

Again, she pointed at herself, spread her arms while raising her head and spinning around… and then shook her head somberly.

“You…” I paused for a moment, trying to parse this. “You don’t belong in this world…?”

A nod.

“But…”

…

Was it because she was aware, unlike the others? Was it… Was she saying that unlike everyone else here, she had soul? And she… wanted me to destroy it? To put her to peace?

That was just…

I swallowed.

“I… I can’t do that…”

Sure, I’ve been killing dungeon monsters left and right, but now… this suddenly felt different. This was an actual person… kind of. And she was asking me not only to kill her but to destroy her soul? I just…

I couldn’t do that!

She ‘sighed’ and–

A chill went down my spine and I immediately jumped back before pulling out my gun self and pointing it at her.

SunOfABeach: at least she didnt kill her
Jeofffff: she still could
Jeofffff: fuck mind control

Like a switch, I suddenly remembered chat, remembered that I was in a dungeon, remembered that I should be fighting the person in front of me.

She didn’t move though, even when I pointed the gun at her.

I hesitated, then swallowed, nervous about this whole situation.

“What did you do to me?” I asked, trying to keep the shakiness out of my voice.

She… formed a fist and then tapped it to the back of her head.

“Don’t you teehee me!” I shouted, outraged.

She shook her head and then repeated the motions from before.

Point at herself, pointed at me, showed four fingers, and then slid a finger across her throat.

The grip on my gun self tightened.

“You… messed with my head so that I wouldn’t attack you right away,” I reasoned. “So that you could say your request.”

Because otherwise, I would just try to defeat her normally. But she wanted me to kill her using Soul Strike specifically…?

She nodded.

I grit my teeth.

I suddenly didn’t feel as reserved about actually doing it, but… it still felt wrong. I didn’t want to do it, but…

She ‘sighed’, looked up at me, and then–

I threw myself to the side as her scaled draconic claw – I hadn’t even noticed she had that when she’d patted my head! – tore through the space I just stood in.

“Wha– You!”

She crouched, and jumped away, landing in the open space of the throne room. She turned to ‘look’ at me, raised one hand, and made a ‘come at me’ motion.

I grit my teeth harder.

Really?

So she wanted to fight it out anyway?

I still didn’t want to destroy her soul but…

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, let out a sigh, and then returned her stare with determination.

“...Fine,” I finally stated.

Then I tried to do the same thing she did, crouched down, and jumped, intending to land on the opposite side of the throne room.

Unfortunately, even with the help of Featherfall, I was a bit short, so had to walk a bit until I reached where I was aiming for.

I looked at her.

She gave me a nod.

“...Before we start… just to confirm.”

She tilted her head.

“You are the final boss of this place, right?”

A nod.

“...Alright. That’s all I needed to know.”

I summoned my axe self and took a stance with it.

She did the same, summoning her own axe again, and took an identical stance to me.

There was a beat of silence.

And then the fight began.