Hero Dyes - Blue

Yohan: After Masque rammed Bridget through the wall and out into the courtyard, I convinced my son that his actions were reckless, again. I knew Gilgamesh wouldn’t allow us to come this far and not have a plan. However, faking her death was impressive. This was to ensure that the real Count was present and not some fake. Also, by chance, if that other puppet had killed her, Bridget would survive and kill it regardless. This would draw out the real Count and their battle would resume from there. Apparently Bridget is far more skilled than she appears. She vanquished the fake Count, yet ‘died’ at the hands of the real one, as planned.

“Go, fight like an idiot to save someone who doesn’t need saving. Let me know when she kills the Count.” I told my son as his dumbfounded face surveyed the battle of Bridget and Masque. Once he leaped down to join them I set my eyes on the large floating orb that was collecting souls. Something wasn’t right. It was too large. A soul well doesn’t need to be that big to harvest large amounts of souls. The more I gazed upon this orb the more I found myself baffled by it. Then I saw it, a dark purple shadow of sorts spring out of the orb and race through the night sky. My terrified eyes didn’t blink as I watched it soar through the air until it vanished from sight. Now that I’ve seen the true nature of this mass, it was time to get answers. I hurried to the hole in the wall and looked down at the courtyard. My son wasn’t there with them. I scanned the area and finally spotted him. I was shocked to see him fighting shadow beings that appeared out of nowhere. I know for a fact that these shadow demons weren’t what was being released from the orb. Regardless, this looks like the work of another tyrant. Why would he help Masque though? Before I could aid my son he banished them using light element attacks, proving that these shadowy creatures were shadow demons indeed.

“I taught you well, my son.” I proudly stated to myself. I watched as he rushed to Bridget’s aid and launched Masque into the neighboring forest. This was my chance to get answers. I dropped down into the courtyard and used a wind masking spell to hide my presence from Bridget and my son. Once I found the Count underneath a fallen tree I waited to see when he would wake up from the heavy below my son dealt him. Slowly he pushed the tree off of him like moving a weightless stick. He growled and adjusted his posture as he waited for his body to heal. This surprised me. Why would he assume he could heal after my son’s attack? Had I hit him and done major damage to him, I’d expect him to run and hide until the wounds were reversed. Every tyrant knows that they can always heal when a Dye Hero Sage attacks them. No matter how fatal the strike, they will never die and simply just heal moments later. However, why would he assume that my son was a Dye Hero Sage? Unless, he knew about his sacrifice at Magus’s Castle.

“I have many questions, puppeteer.” I spoke as my wind masking spell faded away. The Count simply smirked and crossed his arms. He began to chuckle as he shook his head.

“Out of all the sages to ever cross me, you were the only one to actually care about us. You were never satisfied with just one side of the story. You needed to know our end game.” He commented as he whipped the fallen tree away with his dragon tail and sat down on the stump. He sighed and crossed his legs as if he was royalty. This caused me to raise my eyebrow in confusion. Masque was always laid back and carefree. To represent himself as the thing he hated most was strange to see.

“You’ve grown cocky.” I spoke, to which he simply smiled evilly and winked at me.

“I’ve grown stronger, but thank you for the compliment.” His twisted smile still remained, matching his evil mask that he normally wore.

“That puppet Bridget fought. It wasn’t human, was it?”

“Of course not, Golden Sage! None of my puppets are human once I’m done with them!” He replied with a loud laugh afterwards.

“The soul, it wasn’t human.” He quickly froze in place as if I uncovered something he was supposed to be hiding. He lowered his head and dropped his posture to his normal carefree slouch. He hunched his back as he placed his arms on his knees and sighed.

“Damn it…” He uttered, disappointed with himself it seemed.

“How much do you know?” He added, to which I took a seat on a nearby rock.

“Not enough. Now spill it.” He fixed his eyes on me as I spoke. He struggled with the thoughts in his mind as he debated to reveal the truth.

“I’m not sure you’re ready for the truth.” He adds with a bit of sadness. I remained silent, knowing he wasn’t done talking. At least, for his sake, he better not be.

“That soul that came out of the puppet your hero destroyed was called an Under Earther. They’re really hard to fit into human vessels so I’ve been helping my master figure out a way to sustain them in other vessels, fake ones, to start. Of course, I’m a product of my master’s creation. Who better to know the inner workings of a vessel than me. After all, thanks to this curse placed upon us, I was the only successful experiment to host an Under Earther within them.” My eyes widened with shock as his words rang in my mind. It made sense now. This is how his power has increased over the course of the years I was absent.

“I like that look on your face. Never saw it before, but I like it.” His comment brought me back from my thoughts. They wandered too far as more questions populated.

“I’m assuming the Under Eather didn’t take you over as planned.” Now it was his turn to be surprised. He sat up as my words did indeed shock him. He blinked a few times then smirked as he reverted back to his carefree posture.

“What do you know of Under Earth and its inhabitants?” He asked as he narrowed his eyes and stretched his wicked smile more. It would seem that no one was supposed to know about such things. Even though he was calm, I could tell he wasn’t expecting for me to know about their secret.

“Honestly, all I know are the far fetched tales of pirates that ventured too close to a certain island. It was said that it used to be a gateway to a place they called Under Earth. Some pirates would curse themselves or bring mages to obtain the treasure on that island. None came back successful.”

“Oh, but they did.” He interrupted as he chuckled lightly to himself.

“They all came back possessed by an Under Earther. Most of them couldn’t handle the spirit pressure of the Under Earther. They went mad, insane, and crazed with illusions that weren’t real. However, they were real as can be. They began to see spirits from the Under Earth. Creatures that were called to them by the possessing spirit.”

“They all died in the end, I take it.” I finished for him. He slowly nodded and twisted his smile more with delight. He sat back and sighed as he shook his head.

“Of course, this wasn’t their goal so all of it was considered a failure. That is why the island is now safe to travel to.”

“Thus, the huge orb in your ballroom.” I interjected. Once again Masque nods his head to confirm this. He shrugged as he added another detail to this plot.

“That is one of the new ways we’ve managed to capture and release souls. There are other ways that-” Suddenly the trees around us began to rustle and shake. Slight howling could be heard as glowing eyes began to fill the darkness of the forest.

“Shadow demons! Did you summon them while we conversed!” I shouted, readying myself to battle these demons. He laughed and stood on his feet as he joined my side. He suddenly shoved me out of the way and opened his arms wide as if surrendering himself to them.

“You can let your guard down, Golden Sage. My master sent them to punish me. I’ve told you too much, and now he is displeased with me. He can’t kill me however. Us cursed ones under Damaris can’t kill each other. This is going to hurt really bad though.” He informed me as the swarm of bird and wolf like shadow demons raced for Masque. I was in such a state of shock I couldn’t think of what to do. Instead of fighting them off, I watched as these demonic things flooded in and started shredding him to pieces. The paralyzing part of this scene was his acceptance of this punishment. He didn’t budge or fight back. He didn’t even beg for mercy. I watched in horror as chunks and pieces of him were ripped and sliced off. He grunted at first, then began to shout in agony with each attack. I finally snapped out of it as he dropped to his knees and shouted once more. I gathered my energy and lifted my head to the sky. With a mighty roar a heavy cloud filled the forest and surged with lighting and thunder. Within matters of seconds lighting strikes began to vaporize the shadow demons as my transformation began to take place. Soon, another roar dispersed the cloud and revealed my powerful Golden Dragon form. With my tail and claws I swatted away the shadow demons with ease. Those nats were dealt with as quickly as they came. Once the swarm was gone I searched for Masque. His mangled up body laid there, bleeding out for the sake of some cruel punishment he believed he deserved. I mentally shook my head and scooped him up my mouth, like a dog carrying his dead prize.

“You’ve proven yourself useful to me, Masque. However, you are still a tyrant that needs to be killed. I’m sorry, I must see this through.” I told him as my mighty voice rattled the trees. To my surprise he was still conscious and replied back.

“I won’t go down without a fight. I can still recover from this attack and slay your hero. Their work needs to be done, and I need to help them. Otherwise… I’m useless…” His weak and barely audible response was shocking. I didn’t have time to debate with him. He was still loyal to their cause. All I could do is take what information he had given me and apply it to the rest of our journey. We have a mission too, and it seems like it just got bigger. For now, we’ll deal with the tyrants. This other business about the Under Earth will have to wait until I gain more knowledge of it. I began walking him to the courtyard so Bridget could deliver the final blow.

“You’re not going to tell them, are you?” Masque asked as he tried to lift his head to look at me. I stared for a moment, then shook my head gently to imply that I wasn’t.

“Good… Then the next time we meet, I won’t either.”

“There won’t be a next time.” I softly stated, which caused the vibrations of my voice to harm him further. He chuckled and coughed up some blood before speaking again.

“Odin’s Son will rape and kill her. You know this. He’ll pleasure himself and make you watch until he passes out. Then he’ll wake up and finally kill her, or have his way all over again. You know this is true. He has done it to all of your wives.” I bit down on his body and crushed it a bit more to silence his speech. He gagged and choked as his body crunched within my jaws. Now he was unconscious, for the time being. He’ll wake up once we reach the courtyard. As painful as it was to admit, he was right. If we didn’t plan this right, Bridget was going to die. I rather not see her defiled before watching her die. Seeing her killed didn’t bother me as much as seeing her taken and used in such a filthy way. Once she kills Masque, we’ll have to face him… I wasn’t ready for this. None of us are…