Wanderer's Game

Trepidation is an understatement. I'm downright fucking sweating as I walk forwards to Serafall, my hand in my pocket ready to summon the letter.

If there is one thing I absolutely don't want, it's to keep fighting her. She's only going to get more and more pissed off as I fight back, and I'd wager her vengeance is much more important to her than I am. If I keep pushing my luck, she might just stop holding back.

So, with my fingers crossed, I slip my hand out and gently place Gehrman's last words as a free man into her outstretched palm, pointedly ignoring the downright malicious glare she sends the papers.

If she's a rational, capable person she'll read the contents and calm down, think about her actions and apologise.

...What ill fortune then that Serafall is anything but that most of the time. Sometimes I think she's fucking bipolar with how fast she swaps between overly emotional child and bloodthirsty psycho.

I make sure to take a few paces back as she reads, watching her poker face for any trace of disapproval or annoyance. I consider for a moment taking the nuclear approach and casting a Circle of Life until she calms down, but throw the idea out instantly. I won't be the aggressor, it'll only give her more reason to be wary and attack me.

Seconds keep passing as she shifts between the pages. I'm almost fooled into believing she's simmering down, but I catch the damn near imperceptible twitch in her grip, the way her breathing hastens slightly.

"Is this supposed to mean something?"

Her hand starts shaking, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You think this absolves her, in any way? This fucking drivel? It's all just Lord Lucifuge covering for her ass after everything's said and done, giving her a free ticket now that the war is coming to a close!"

Oh dear. Oh deary dear.

"So what if she was scared? So what if she didn't want to do it?"

In an instant, the letter is burned to cinders, ashes falling to the side as Serafall throws her hand aside, her eyes bloodshot.

"She still fucking killed them! Every, single, one of them! A sorry won't change that!"

Every step she takes forward causes the earth to shudder beneath her, and I dimly realise that I've made things much, much worse.

"Do you have any idea what it was like, going between those utterly broken families, desperately begging for forgiveness?"

Yes, this certainly goes beyond hatred. This is something worse. How they ever reconciled in the original timeline is beyond me at this point.

"Do you have any idea how many times I've pleaded for a chance to go back? To get rid of the guilt that tears into me? Do you have any idea what it's like, to have this much blood on your hands!?"

I don't see a way out of this that doesn't end in violence. In fact, I don't see a way out of this that doesn't end in me being a nice paste on the floor at this point.

"Serafall, just calm down! This isn't-"

"-613 DEVILS! 613 INNOCENT PEOPLE! AND SHE GETS AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE OF A FUCKING SOB STORY!?"

She slowly raises her hand above her head, shards of ice coalescing into a warhammer almost as big as she is, the light reflecting off of it giving the hammer an ethereal glow as she brandishes it.

All around us the weather shifts violently, rolling clouds forming in the dreadfully purple sky, a sudden hailstorm coating the Sitri lands in shadow.

"I waited a decade to finally get my hands on her! I won't let you get in my way!"

She heaves breaths in between her sentences, her body slowly being coated in rime, cold air billowing from her mouth.

The letter only made it worse. Seeing physical evidence that Grayfia was going to get away with it all probably only deepened the fury she felt. In hindsight, I have made several mistakes in this situation.

Not that it matters. All I can do is defend myself now. I could teleport back to Gehrman's estate, but that runs the risk of Serafall branding me a traitor.

She's too deep in her rage to think rationally. Too far gone in her hatred to see reason. She's an overly emotional child, with the power to level nations.

As I summon Caduceus and lay a hand behind my back ready for her assault, I make sure to let her know just how I feel now.

"You've lost your bloody mind, Serafall."

So quickly things have changed. I came here expecting praise and a serenade, now I'm about to fight for my life once more.

Several meters of distance between us, the wind twisting wildly all around. Seconds pass in tense, sweat inducing silence as her hand lay still. Is she hesitating? No.

DANGER

Wind whistles behind my back, and I've less than a second to react before her hammer whiffs past my face with the force of a train collision, her afterimage disappearing shortly after.

My foot kicks the end of her hammer away, bones shattering under the force, giving me a tiny window to push in close and cut into her elbow with the tip of Cadueceus' blade before she grabs my wrist and twists it violently.

-776HP!

Just as she is about to grab my shoulder and snap my elbow above her knee, I summon my Doppelganger and make the same cut again, far deeper this time, and watch in satisfaction as her fingers fall limp.

With my own arm freed, I back up as much as I can while having the Doppelganger rush her down, giving me a moment to cast a Prayer and take stock of the situation.

7710HP!

I have one undisputed advantage in this fight.

I can afford to get hurt. She can't. Every injury I give her is a weakness I can exploit, and so far I've already severed a flexor tendon in her left arm, rendering the hand utterly useless for physical combat.

Normally I'm sure this would be useless strategy, but right now Serafall is fucking feral, barely thinking straight beyond murderous rage.

DANGER

"Is that all you got!?"

In the blink of an eye, the tables turn. My Doppelgangers gone, encased in ice. Serafall is in the air, weapon raised as she grins victoriously, my feet encased in the same ice she summoned a fraction of a second before jumping at me.

Nice try, Sera.

-710HP!

-710MP!

"FREIKUGEL!"

The beam decimates her hammer, leaving her utterly defenseless as she flies into my oncoming fist, the punch utterly shattering her nose as she tumbles backwards after the collision.

Blood runs down her mouth in droves, her eyes alight with derision and confusion as she looks at my now burnt glove, before a smile lights up her face, the sight far more haunting than I'd anticipated.

If the training wheels weren't already off before, they most certainly are now. Gone is the hammer, now she wields nothing as she lifts herself up. With no hesitation, Serafall grabs her broken nose and sets it back in place with a sickening crunch.

Within less than a second, Serafall lifts her hand and summons several hundred Magic Circles all around us, thousands of razor sharp icicles shot at me from each one.

Mind working in overdrive, I run as fast as my body can allow me in her direction, Caduceus replaced with the Harbinger as I spin the blade in a circle, blocking any shards that hit from head on.

Serafall meets me in the middle of my stride, her foot clashing with Harbinger's blade, then my boot as we begin exchanging blows at a speed far greater than I'd even thought imaginable. I'm losing viciously, my limbs getting decimated by the constant onslaught as she keeps pressing forward.

-170x13HP!

Just as I think to move back, to cast a spell so I can slip in a Prayer, Serafall jumps and twists around, her foot slamming into my arm with enough force to throw me into the outer wall of the long since forgotten Sitri Manor, the marble pillar shattering on the spot alongside my spine.

-2205HP!

Before I can even taste the blood seeping into my mouth and lungs, Serafall tilts my chin up with her boot, dropping it a moment later so she can grab me by the hair and meet my gaze, leaning in close to whisper in my face as she does so.

"25 seconds. Every time you heal yourself, there's a 25 second window where you can't do it again."

Terror. I hadn't expected I'd be feeling it again so soon, but all I feel right now is utter terror. She knows. She fucking knows.

"Such a simple weakness. You think I wouldn't notice it?"

Dried blood coats the bottom half of her face, going quite nicely with the rest of the blood on her body.

She doesn't see anything wrong with this. She thinks it's all necessary. Between hacking coughs, I try and respond to her.

"Im getting all sorts of Deja Vu now. You remind me a lot of Bidleid, you know?"

I'm not even sure why I said that. Perhaps it was delirium from the pain. I can't feel the lower half of my body, and I can only barely breathe. I doubt I'll even have that soon.

Nevertheless, those weren't the words she was looking for, as she suddenly slams her boot down on my chest, my injuries worsening greatly.

-241HP!

"Take it back." Another stomp on my chest.

-342HP!

She's lost herself, her hatred fueling her more than ever as she rages at the idea of being anything like the monster she's come to loathe.

"I said take it back!"

"...Or what?" I heave out, nothing but strings of conciousness still hanging on at this point. 3 seconds.

To my surprise she doesn't respond, and as my hacking coughs worsen I catch a flicker of guilt in her eyes, the bloodied haze of fury washing away into something profoundly sad.

Prayer is off cooldown. I can heal myself, end the pain I'm currently in, but not yet. I want to exploit that spark of guilt.

"...Ali?"

She's expecting the Prayer, expecting me to get right back up like I always do, like I've done countless times before, but as my body goes slack she starts panicking.

"Get up!"

She moves her foot, lowering herself to grab my shoulder and shake me awake, as if that could quell the internal damages.

"Why won't you get up!?"

Is this petty? Maybe. I've lost too much blood to care. At the very least, this is a surefire way to make her calm down. What better way to wake someone from a murderous daze than the cold realisation that they've ended up killing a friend?

-13HP/s!

832/7710HP

"Please, please get up!"

I hope this teaches you a fucking lesson, Serafall. Control yourself, you utter child.

"I'm sorry!"

She now weeps openly, her head hanging in my chest as tears fall onto my bloodied clothes.

"I'm so sorry..."

7710HP!

"Apology not accepted. Now get off of me."

Her sadness shifts into shock, and gives way to joy. For a moment she tries to wrap her arms around my neck and hug me.

I don't hesitate to punch her in the stomach with as much force as I can muster and push her aside.

"That was for shattering my spine. Now, are you done with your little temper tantrum?"

She heaves for a moment, coughing as the air leaves her system from the shock of the blow until seconds later she turns to me, betrayal in her eyes.

"Don't you dare look at me like that. I'm not having this conversation, not after you damn near brutalised me."

She looks downright furious again for a moment, and I wonder if I've cursed myself to repeat this same situation, until she hangs her head and sniffles.

"...I'm sorry..."

"Is that all you can say!? I should be shunning you, cursing your bloodline to the ends of the earth for what you tried to do!"

I hadn't expected to be this angry with her, but now that I've started I just can't stop, endless frustrations boiling over as the memories of countless wounds come back.

"You almost killed me you bloody idiot! Over revenge! Revenge against a woman who was forced to act out against you! A victim!"

"You- you can't say that, she-"

"Shut up you moron! I have half a mind to say Grayfia did a good thing for us all, because clearly you don't deserve friends if this is how you treat them!"

I don't realise what I've said until I finish speaking. I've gone too far, my newfound guilt made only worse by the way her eyes look at me as though I'm some sort of villain.

"What?"

The way her voice trembles is enough to make my anger still for a moment, and I feel a small pang in my heart despite how vast my anger was moments prior. Her eyes brim with tears, her voice coming out in small gasps as she struggles to form words.

"Haah. I apologise, Serafall." I say, regretting the words already.

"Having your chest bashed into pieces leaves you in a very bad mood. I wasn't trying to make light of-"

"-No! Don't you dare try and get out of this with an apology!-"

"-What else can I do!? It was a mistake, I didn't mean to say it, but you aren't-

"-It doesn't matter if you apologise! Those were my friends you asshole, you can't just-"

"-I know they were, you broke my spine for them! I said sorry, what more do you-"

"-How about an explanation about why you sided with Grayfia over me!?-"

"-I HAD ONE UNTIL YOU BURNED IT TO FUCKING ASH-"

...I'm not sure how long we go back and forth arguing, constantly interrupting one another and shouting over eachother.

Past a certain point I lose track of what we're even arguing about, the topic having changed so many times as we aired out our frustrations over just about anything.

It was surprisingly liberating, to scream in her face about how childish I thought she was, and quite disheartening to hear her call me a naive idiot who thought he could shove himself into the war and act like a hero.

Overall, by the end I'm left out of breath and utterly drained, several feet closer to Serafall after we'd quite literally butted heads.

"Ahem."

The sudden interruption causes the both of us to snap our heads in the direction of this new voice, having spent almost a half hour hearing only eachothers until now.

"Am I... interrupting something?"

I had expected to meet him in a battlefield, or at a party, or anywhere else but here. Alas I don't have a choice in the venue it seems, because stood several meters away, looking thoroughly confused, is the most powerful Devil I've ever met.

Sirzechs Gremory

Architect of Ruin

Level: 359

...fuck.