Headed by a Snake

Pale took Vanya's words and scribbled them onto his heart.

He loved his friends, unconditionally.

Being a Hero was hard... but as long as he was fighting alongside people he loved, he felt like he could overcome any hardships.

And in order to make a thousand or ten thousand more memories, they all needed to live a very long time.

"Yeah," he nodded to Vanya. "you, me-- all of us, together!! We'll win this fight, for sure!"

"(I could do without the other two,)" Vanya mumbled.

But to get to that point, Pale and his team still needed to resolve their current predicament.

He shot another lightning bolt at Tavor.

"⌈Maximus⌋?"

"GRAH GRK GRRHK!! FOR THE LAST TIME, BOY!!!!"

No good.

It seemed his long-range magic was losing its effectiveness.

Everyone was doing everything they could...

Vanya had gone back to focusing on her channeled Spell.

Troia was focused on locking down Tavor's movement and disrupting his attacks.

Ree was too busy swatting away Thorn Elves to focus on the boss.

All that... and the situation wasn't changing for the better.

Tavor...

Even though several of his legs were cracked and bleeding, he was still fighting just as hard as when he burst out of the ground.

...and the stream of baddies didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon.

"Vanya," he said... "I need to head to the front."

"(Go, my hero,)" Vanya nodded. "⌈Frost Walk⌋"

Pale gave a solemn nod in return.

He was taking a huge risk in leaving Vanya without a defender... but defeating Tavor was the key to ending the battle.

Pale used ⌈Misty Step⌋ to leap into the sky, then, keeping his forward-momentum, he used another ⌈Misty Step⌋ to pop out at ground-level. With the ⌈Frost Walk⌋ enchantment, he was able to skate forward at rapid speed, stabbing and slashing through enemies with his spear.

❬❰ Hero!!!! ❱❭

Pale smashed his spear into the ground, swinging around the anchor to rapidly change direction. Thanks to Troia's warning, he narrowly avoided an enemy attack.

AND it was a ⌈Fire Beam⌋!!

He didn't see how the chimera shot it-- but it *had* to be from his worm-arms. It only made sense!

"I have you now, spider-man!!!" Ree yelled.

"Unhand me, you petulant BRAT!!" Tavor shrieked, "I!! AM A DUKE!!!"

"And to me, you're just DOOKIE!!"

Right as Pale heard her shout, Ree successfully tore off one of the chimera's eight crab/spider legs. The wound spewed clear (but smelly) fluids that sizzled where it splashed on the ground.

Still, Ree's insult made Pale think about Sir Tycon. He always looked so disappointed when she said things like that.

Troia took the advantage, grabbing onto both of Tavor's worm-arms and forcing them downward.

That was Pale's chance!

He leapt up, smashing his foot into a stunned Thorn Elf. He activated the secondary effect of Vanya's ⌈Frost Walk⌋, freezing the enemy into a block of ice. Then, he used his Whitefire Gauntlet to enchant the block with ⌈Whitefire Burst⌋.

Finally, he snapped the fingers of his gauntleted hand.

Boom.

The mana-explosion disintegrated the frozen statue and launched Pale at super-speed toward Tavor.

He lined up his spear... and activated his ultimate Skill.

"⌈Magnummm CRASHHHH!!!!⌋"

Tavor began to panic, his eyes widening to thrice the size a normal human should have been capable of.

"Nooo!! NOOOOO!!! This is NOT the LAST you've SEEN OF XANDER TA--RARRRRAAAAAUGHHHHHH!!!"

Sailing over Troia and Ree, Pale smashed into the blobular torso of Xander Tavor. However,  ⌈Magnum Crash⌋ and its base Skill, ⌈Magnum Break⌋ was a mostly fire element move, so the boss didn't explode like most baddies did.

...So, immediately after, Pale used his spear to stab him in the neck, then through the eye. He wasn't sure where Tavor's butthole was (if he had one at all,) so he just used ⌈Spiral Pierce⌋ to stab him five times in the chest.

Finally, he grabbed onto Tavor's face and activated his ⌈Maximus⌋ Skill with both hands.

Tavor didn't scream anymore after that.

He started to fall, so Pale grabbed onto the chimera's face blubber to keep stable, leaping off at the last moment and rolling onto the ground.

Stabilizing himself and checking his surroundings, he saw the few remaining Thorn Elves sound a retreat.

Without the demon-crab and its weird heat aura, the enemy had lost their biggest advantage.

Troia and Ree were able to leave Vanya's protective barriers for higher mobility and a massive increase in offensive potential.

Vanya started casting long-distance frost Spells from where she was, too.

Pale breathed a sigh of relief. The battle was pretty much over.

He still had a lot of mana to spare, but Ree was starting to get sluggish-- and Vanya definitely needed to rest.

He wondered how Troia was doing. Her mana reserves seemed to run even deeper than his, but their team's expedition into the Plane of Fire had been sun after sun of constant combat...

After a few more minutes of fighting, Kimura Taree bounded over to Pale, scooping him up into a hug.

"We did it!" she said.

Pale returned a grin, "Yeah. Great job, Ree."

Troia's Dawnbringer jogged over. The chest compartment opened up, revealing a very pretty, but also very sweaty teenage girl with purple hair.

She signed [finally] and [safe].

Pale nodded enthusiastically, before signing back [thanks to you].

Holy Princess Troia granted him the gift that was her smile.

Her radiant, literally angelic smile calmed Pale's heart while also refueling his spirit. He felt ready to march into the Briarthorn Monarch's fortress and kick everyone's butt, on his own!

(--but only if he had to, since that sounded like a really bad idea.)

Finally, Pale turned back to Vanya. She was kneeling on the edge of the high ground, smiling gently down at him.

It was thanks to her that they'd been able to come so far.

They would have never made it safely to the Plane of Fire without the help of her and her tribe.

Just thinking about it made emotions swell in his heart.

Pride... in his friends, their bond, and the strength of their teamwork.

Joy... in both the highs and lows of their journey.

Nostalgia... for his long-missing father, for his friends in Sol Invictus, still in the Surface Realm...

F... ear?

Fear... that they would soon forget him. How many years had passed since he last saw them?

Despair?

Helplessness. He wasn't strong enough-- and, it was only through luck that they scraped together a win. If just one thing had gone wrong, everything would have been over.

Anger.

Rage.

It burned hotter than the entire Plane of Fire.

They'd done so much... for so many people. It seemed that everyone needed his help-- but he couldn't turn a blind eye to their problems! That's not who he was!

[ H A T E . ]

Hate...

So much hate...

"Vanya!!" he screamed.

Pale swore he could hear her, despite her being so far away.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

"NOOO!!!" Ree screamed.

Pale heard all his emotions in that scream, the pain, the fear, the helplessness...

A tall, gaunt humanoid stood on that hill. It wore the skull of a ram, otherworldly fury burning in its amber eyes.

The Flamebriar Monarch was on that hill. Its dark body seemed to squirm and writhe like it was made of snakes.

The Flamebriar Monarch was lifting Vanya, its black, wriggling hand wrapped around her throat.

She was no longer moving.

That was why she apologized.

The Flamebriar Monarch threw her lifeless body off the cliff.

Troia again sealed herself inside Dawnbringer, sprinting forward.

She caught Vanya. But Vanya...

But Vanya...

Ree was scrambling up the rock wall-- but giant thorny vines burst out of the cracks, wrapping around her arms and legs.

Pale shot his hand forward. ⌈Maximus⌋.

The Flamethorn Briar took the hit, shrugging it off like it was a gentle breeze.

Pathetic. His magic was pathetic... but the magic wasn't to blame. The fault lied with the caster.

[ P A T H E T I C . ]

No. Pale couldn't accept it. He was a Hero. He wasn't *allowed* to accept his failures.

He used ⌈Misty Step⌋ to reach Ree, stabbing his spear into the rock wall. He used his gauntlet to claw her free from the oppressive Briarthorn Vines, "Ree! Wake up! I need you!!"

[ U S E L E S S . ]

"It's useless," she said. "Soon... the thorns will break through my skin. Soon... I'll go to the place where Tamaki is..."

Her muscles were shrinking-- her ⌈Berserker⌋ Form was wearing off! But for that to happen--

Her mind! She was being affected by a mind-altering Spell!

"Troia!!!" Pale yelled, "TROIIIAAAA!! The magic-- it's taken hold of Ree!!"

[ S U R R E N D E R . ]

❬❰ Hero... ❱❭

❬❰ Vanya Has Taken Injury... ❱❭

❬❰ I... ❱❭

❬❰ I Cannot Heal Her... ❱❭

Whatever magic was in the air-- it was affecting everyone!

"GrraaaaAaaAAAGHHHH!!!!"

Pale leapt up onto the rocky plane.

It was there. It was in front of him.

The Flamebriar Monarch.

⌈Maximus⌋

Pale cast his strongest Spell at the creature.

⌈Maximus⌋

He channeled all his hopes into the magic.

⌈Maximus⌋

He channeled his pain.

⌈Maximus!!⌋

He channeled his love.

⌈MaxiMUSSS!!!!!⌋

He channeled HIS HATE!!!!

⌈ M A X I M U S  ! ! ! ! ! ⌋

Nothing worked.

Nothing...

The insides of Pale's skull burned so hot it felt cold and numb. His knees collided painfully with the stone ground.

"Why..."

"YOU. KNOW. WHY..."

The Flamebriar Monarch's voice crackled like kindling and burning bone.

It stood only a few paces away, towering above him.

Red worms slithered behind its skull-mask. Though it could have been a human from far away, underneath its mossy cape was nothing but slithering vines and black thorns the size of daggers.

But...

--instead of ending Pale's miserable and worthless life...

It turned and began to walk away.

"Come BACK!!!!" Pale yelled. He smashed his forearms against the rocks, begging with all his might, "FINISH ME!!! Kill me!!"

He swallowed the saliva in his throat... and he watched his tears being swallowed up by the dry earth.

"Come back... Please..."

The creature did not cease its steps...

"I. WILL. BE. WAITING."

[I will be waiting...]

[Just... as I told him.]

",