The Archetype | Rimuru Tempest x TBATE

It didn't take long for me to notice that something was wrong in the city. Alarms resounded in the distant districts and carriages rushed past streets in abnormal numbers. Military personnel marched down the road and I could see the onlookers' anxiety in their eyes.

"What's going on," I muttered to myself—still quite shaken by everything that's happened in so little time, with so little preparation. Trouble just keeps piling up, goddamn it.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, before exhaling a resigning sigh.

"Keep being the light that others can follow. Keep being the hope that you gave to me."

Alea's words echoed in my mind, haunting me—but I was grateful for them. They made me confront the sorry state I was in and, in a way, kept me moving forward. I slipped into a long, cozy black coat and buttoned it up. Then, stepping onto the balcony of my villa, I spread my wings and soared straight toward the source of the commotion.

The wind brushed past my face as I flew through the night sky, the cool air biting against my skin. Below, the city sprawled out, the chaos of the streets growing clearer as I neared the center. I could hear the distant voices, the hurried footsteps of soldiers, and the sound of hooves, all mixing into an unsettling tension in the air.

Before long, I noticed the source of the emergency. A giant, dome-shaped, light-red barrier made of interconnected hexagonal panels enveloped the entirety of Xyrus Academy. I could make out the little specks outside of the barrier—parents worried sick for their children, local law enforcements, and military personnel trying to work on some large puncturing devices in an attempt to pierce through the barrier.

I didn't land among them and instead positioned myself just above the barrier. I suspended my position in the air and began analyzing.

"What's going on here, Raphael?"

<>

I didn't need to ask any further questions. The pieces began falling into place. The council had spoken of strange occurrences, students losing control of their magic—markings appearing on their bodies, like tattoos that drove their powers wild and untamed. But this? This was something else entirely. For it to have been this serious, I really was slacking off, wasn't I?

I was the only one who thought things were moving so slowly.

Not anymore.

In the distance, I could sense familiar presences—three of them. Blue, yellow, and orange specks of lights emerged from the distant skies, and I knew who they were. Varay, Olfred, and Baron. I glanced back to the bloody scene below me.

Things were spiraling out of control. The academy had descended into madness. Casualties had already begun to mount. Students and faculty members were fighting one another, and the boundary between ally and enemy had become all but impossible to discern. There were spies, after all.

At least Arthur was holding his own—beating down Lucas Wykes, from what I could see. Sylvie was with him, fully manifested in her dragon form, her scales glinting like shards of glass in the dim light.

Wait, is he going to kill him?

I glanced back up at the sky, the three Lances growing closer by the second. So many questions tumbled through my mind, each one more urgent than the last. Who was behind all of this? Who was the mastermind who pulled the strings? These weaker Alacryans, these corrupted students and teachers—they couldn't have organized something of this scale.

Did they leave already?

I exhaled a sigh and let my boots touch the barrier below. In an instant, it shattered like glass, the hexagonal panels collapsing and disintegrating into wisps of light. I knew what was coming—Baron wouldn't be happy about Arthur's little victory, and Lucas Wykes was practically a corpse. I couldn't let this turn into another senseless bloodbath. Not if I could help it.

I appeared beside Arthur in a whoosh. Time seemed to slow as my appearance froze everyone in place. I poured and maintained a constant and steady mana in the air as to preserve some semblance of order amidst the chaos.

It was time for them to know: I was here.

"You look like crap, Wykes," I said to the boy below Arthur's feet. His eyes were already empty, and though his heart was still beating, it was clear he had no more hope left in him. I can't even tell if he heard me. I glanced at Arthur, who looked different. His auburn hair had turned creamy color and his eyes gained a shade of deep purple.

I could feel the raw power radiating from him. This was his beast will, the first time I had witnessed it firsthand.

And a damn powerful one at that.

Ignoring my probing eyes, Arthur looked at me with eyes that all but said: "Are you okay now?"

Still, Arthur looked angry. Very much so. I nodded at him reassuringly with a smile of my own, and then he proceeded to smash Lucas Wykes's balls. Damn. I could tell it'll hurt even in hell.

Arthur and I didn't exchange any more words as we walked toward the huddled and injured hostages. But there was a sound. I turned around at Lucas's lying body, and his mouth opened for perhaps the last time. And the words that escaped his lips might've sealed Arthur's fate if I hadn't been here.

"B-Brother…"

Time seemed to freeze. That single, desperate word echoed louder than anything else in that moment. And as if on cue, the Lances arrived. The air ripped apart with a thunderous boom, and the ground shook as a cloud of dust billowed outward.

Baron's eyes fell on Lucas's limbless, lifeless body beside him, and his eyes went wide with rage as he knelt to get a better look. I figured. He saw his own brother—being half-blood aside—lying lifeless with palpable despair on his face. Lucas Wykes's nerves looked like it popped everywhere and his skin was pale, sclera red with blood and scent so foul it was like rotting flesh.

That's what had become of his brother, and Baron's eyes went wide with rage.

"Get behind me, Arthur," I said to Arthur. "You guys, too," I added, tilting my head to address Sylvie and the victims huddled not far from her—still struggling for medications. They did as they were told, and I was glad at that. I looked back to Baron, but his eyes only saw Arthur. Yellow lightning crackled around him in brutal tendrils.

Baron thrust his hand out, and a violent torrent of lightning shot to Arthur, but I expanded the range of Uriel's Universal Barrier, and the blast dissipated like mist. That blast was one made to kill.

"What do you think you're doing, Baron?" I asked Baron, making sure I made it clear that I was in no mood to tolerate insubordination now of all times. And frankly, I really was. I'm still tired from everything that's happened, and I fear that if my patience runs out, Baron might soon join his brother in the afterlife.

Sylvie roared, but Arthur yelled something to keep her from lashing out. I stared at the Lances, drowning out the noises behind me. I took a step toward Baron, and I could feel the heat rising in my body, the crimson tint in my eyes deepening in shade.

Varay moved her hand and Sylvie was encased by a jail of piercing sharp ice spears. Olfred snapped his fingers and conjured molten golems to guide the students and professors into safety, while apprehending the enemies that remained.

Baron moved forward, still ignoring me like I wasn't in front of him. He spoke as he marched. "Death is not enough for the likes of you. To do something so atrocious to a Wykes, to my brother…"

Ignoring me?

Baron lifted his hand to conjure another attack, but before he could, I muttered.

"Fall."

Gravity bent itself with impossible weight as Baron Wykes, a Lance, and a white-core mage, collapsed into the ground. Gasping for air, his chest heaving with every desperate breath. He coughed up a mouthful of blood as I walked towards him.

"You are not to lay a hand on him." I said to Baron.

He gritted his teeth and fought against the force of my cursed speech, eyes and nose bleeding. Olfred only watched on the sidelines, although he and Varay looked like they were ready to interfere in case things got too far.

"Grand Marshal! My brother just died in front of me! It is only just that I repay his killer in kind, so please," he said with another cough, eyes bloodshot. "Get the fuck out of the way!"

Lightning rushed from his body outward in a bright and flashy explosion. Slowly, but surely, he almost rose up to his knee. I responded by strengthening the force of my command. The whole academy be damned, I'm not letting Baron kill a bundle of potential like Arthur.

"Must I repeat myself, Baron?"

No one is allowed to take youth from young people, I thought to myself, justifying my actions. No one.

"Keep being the light that others can follow. Keep being the hope that you gave to me."

I snapped to my senses when I felt Varay's hand on my shoulders. I gazed at her for a moment before noticing I was exerting too much force that I worried I might eventually bring the entire floating city crashing into the ground below.

Baron in front of me looked like he was about to turn into red paste, so I released the force and the recoil sent a wave of strong shockwave upward. The shockwave collapsed the main building of the academy, but thankfully, the hostages remained untouched.

Olfred helped Baron to his feet. Walking up to him, staring directly into his rage-filled eyes, I made myself clear one more time. "Understood?"

Baron looked down, refusing to meet my eyes anymore. "Understood."

"Good," I replied with a smile, trying to sound cheerful as I patted Olfred's arm and proclaimed my intentions to the entire area. "Get him patched up, Olfred. I'll decide what to do with the boy and the dragon. And I'll take responsibility for it."

Olfred gave a curt nod. I glanced at Varay, who offered a small, almost imperceptible nod in return. She then lowered her hand, the spiky ice encasing Sylvie dissolving into wisps of frost. But I couldn't relax yet, despite how badly I wanted to. Tons of things still needed to be taken care of.

I turned my gaze to the ruined academy, the smoke still rising from the shattered buildings, the injured being tended to by healers. The scale of the attack, the sheer destruction—I knew, with a chilling certainty, that this was just the beginning.

And I still needed to report everything to the council. I knew there would be questions, accusations, and likely, a struggle for control over Arthur and Sylvie. I exhaled slowly, the air tasting of smoke and ash.

Things were far from over. I'm tired.