linkingup | FOR THOSE WE HAVE LOST

Sunrise!

[That's his third Diarahan in short order (sorry Aaron, he'll get you next) and he too is really starting to run low on SP... this might be Very Bad if this fight doesn't end soon, because he can only keep this amount of healing up for so long.

Rather than trying to attack again, he'll just take a momentary breather to try to gather himself. As the only Utility here, if he runs himself down, they're all in trouble and he knows it.]

[The last three knights are taken down, leaving only the King behind.]

Impossible... You have defeated my knights...

[He seems surprised by this, as if such a thing truly couldn't be foreseen. Still, he readies his blade and casts another Makouga, dealing heavy damage to Sunrise (again), as well as clipping Aaron (again), and missing Richard (again).

Your rage builds. This is the man who killed your friend. He has underestimated you. He has hurt your friends. He is still standing.

Roll with advantage on all attacks from here on.]

[With all the knights downed, there's only one person left to take down. This fight doesn't have to do with his own friends, or the mafia and all of their atrocities, but all that doesn't matter right now when he's pissed at this fucker for existing.]

You're gonna pay for that!

[He has just enough sense to Media everyone again before he rushes off to aim a thrust (19, 2) at the King, aiming at whatever gap he can find in the armor.]

[ Some of this is very familiar to Sunrise, even if it doesn't map perfectly to her own experiences and feelings. It is worryingly easy to let this anger fuel her, because in the depths of her soul lies a righteous fury that wants to burn and consume.

(This is the man who killed this girl. He will not face justice except by your hand. Some atrocities must never, ever be condoned.

Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Unforgivable.)

She casts Phanta Rei on the King (18, 13) for maximum damage. She has the SP to spare and she would like him eat shit and die, thank you. ]

[This is what it all comes down to, isn't it? Humans inevitably hurt each other and cause suffering. Here, back in Ephinea, it's all the same no matter where you go. Human nature will not change-- cannot be changed. And that's exactly why...

The Tiger's Prowl (14, 3) that he lashes out at Thordan with is just a small taste of the suffering he's felt, and he plans to pay it all back in spades. It's only fair. It's only right. Everyone should be able to understand just how he feels, just how much suffering has been wrought upon him in the name of individual selfish desires.]

[Together, the three of them are able to put an end to King Thordan. He drops to a knee like the knights before him, looking up at the three of you with a look akin to horror.]

Who - what are you?

[He doesn't get an answer, instead vanishing in a flash of light. Silence follows, only broken by a familiar-yet-unfamiliar voice. It sounds like those you cherish, while never sounding exactly like one person.]

Will you kill those that have wronged you, or can you stay your hand?

[Do you answer truthfully?]

[It's almost anticlimactic how easily he goes down, considering how much trouble they were having with all those knights. There's a brief feeling of accomplishment at having bested this foe, but not much more than that -- even if it had felt personal in the heat of the moment, it ultimately wasn't, not really.

But he's not given much time to contemplate this further when that voice rings out with that question, sounding of both those who are still alive, and those who aren't. And maybe the answer should be simple, but it is true that with time, he's had more time to reflect on the nuances.

Even so, there's no point overcomplicating it -- if it's anything like Kirumi's palace, this is just so the owner of this place can hear their honest opinions.]

If it's 'cause they screwed over my friends or my city, then yeah, I would. Some bastards won't stop until you put 'em down, and if no one else is gonna avenge them, then I will.

Edited 2024-10-14 21:31 (UTC)

[ For a long moment, Sunrise stares at the spot where the King previously was, coming down from how tense she felt from the earlier anger.

It also takes her a long moment to answer, because even if she's asked for her honest opinion about this, it is also honestly complicated for her. She hadn't until relatively recently even begun to conceive the notion that she had ever been wronged. The only wrongs she understands are the ones she's witnessed being done to others. ]

I...Did not think I had been wronged until people told me the things that have happened to me were. I only know that seeing other people be wronged makes me angry.

But that is why I would not kill who have wronged me. Because I would have to kill people who are frightened by me and someone who has hurt me because she was hurt herself. ...I am tied to her as well, so it would be the same as killing myself.

[The voice does not respond. The world around you slowly begins to fade to white. When you blink, you suddenly find yourselves back in front of the stained glass window, though now it is broken. There are zero remaining.

Please wait warmly for the next part!]

FOR THOSE WE HAVE LOST | FRAY'S PALACE

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