Chapter 32: Snake Skull Mescita: Rescue Altena

Uh, well this is unusual...

From time to time portals like this one show up on the island. Dragon's Dreams we call them. They're said to be the dreams of the slumbering Genesis Dragon God. No one has the foggiest idea what's inside them. Swing your sword at it all you like, once one of these shows up it's not going anywhere in a hurry. We, however, are in a hurry. We're going in.

Let's do it. Whatever trial awaits us, we have to overcome it for Altena's sake.

Alternate dimensions don't tend to be the most welcoming of places. Be on your guard.

That cape, those horns...

The Beast King, here? But, how?!

The Beast King? So this is another me from 16 years in the future?

You would abandon my struggle as doomed, and side with the predetermined winner in spite of their unjustness? Have you forgotten all those we've lost to the humans? You know this is wrong. The new path you dream of is one with you as a dog, and humans your leash-wielding master.

The title "Beast King" is not to be cast off so lightly! You are abandoning your duty, and your destiny!

Enough! I accept that you did what you did. But you were mistaken. You were weak, you lost. It's meaningless to repeat that destiny. I have to lead our kind to a better future by another road.

I don't know how we happened to find ourselves face to face, but that's unimportant.

If you stand in my way, I will strike you down, it's as simple as that. Don't think I have any fondness for your image. An enemy's an enemy to me.

Guildna, are we going to fight him?

You aren't. I am. This is my fight alone.

It pains me to see that my past self was this imbecilic. You've no hope of standing up to my swordsmanship... ...which has been tempered by the flames of war! Come then. I'll show you what these 16 years have taught me!

That was really something, Guildna.

It was a matter of pride. If I'd lost to him, how could I continue down my path with my head held high? Feinne's given me this chance at a new life. I can't let it go to waste.

I don't know if my path will end with peace for my kind. But I must try!

You know you have our support, Guildna.

Come on then. I saw what looked like an exit a bit deeper in. We should be able to get to Snake Skull Mescita through there.

Got it!

Altena!

Oh no! Is she hurt?

Don't move Feinne. It's coming!

Anguirus!

And...what's that?

Analysis suggests this is a Prisma-corrupted subdivision from Guildna's body with maximized combat parameters.

Just as Anguirus sought out Altena, this monster seems strongly attached to Guildna.

Damn it!

I do appreciate a challenge and I say, don't we have one here! But with foes this fierce I ought to be wary not to emerge from the fray a leg or two lighter.

So if I want my sister back I have to take down the two of you, do I?

Fine, if that's how you want to play it. Clearly you creatures can't be reasoned with. I suppose they will be lost on you, but allow me to offer you some words of comfort. Your lives will soon be at an end.

Not a scrap of your hateful forms will be left in this world after my blade has had its way!

And don't come back!

Altena, are you all right?

Guildna... Huh?!

Aaaaaah!

Altena!

There you are at last, Aldo. Move, and the girl dies.

You've been following us, Zennon? I told you to give it up already! The ogres are finished!

They're not the most honorable of chaps. It seems fair to deduce that a spot of sleuthing isn't beyond them.

I've never seen such an unsightly rabble. Who are they?

The ogre clan. Their spirits combined to make Ogre Rancorem.

But the ogres have not been alive for over 3000 years. Where did they come from?!

It's... complicated.

They didn't get the message from the Thunder King the first time, so we're gonna have to wipe 'em out all over again.

We'll be taking the girl back to Ogres Spike. We'll keep her in one piece, we have use of her.

Curse you, Zennon!

Guildna, is it? I see you carry the Crimson Blade, of the fire spirit Salamander. This is an unexpected stroke of luck, that one of the four should be so readily obtainable.

Guildna's sword is one of the four Elemental Arms?!

Composition matches that of the silicon-based life-forms observed in the Miglancian Labyrinth. Hypothesis verified.

You know of the Crimson Blade's origins?

Hah! The Thunder King's army have proved a hardy foe, but with those weapons... You, beast. Bring me the four Elemental Arms. Refuse and you won't see you sister ever again.

What?!

Away with her!

Altena!

Feinne! ...Urk.

Zennon, you coward!

Aaargh!

You will find me the Elemental Arms. I know of the unusual power you wield. Should you fail you have no excuse. And you know the consequences.

Urgh!

I look forward to our next meeting, Aldo.

Don't think this will go unanswered, Zennon!

Guildna, we're in this fight against the ogres together now. Will you come with us? Joining forces will give us a better chance of rescuing Altena.

Even though I was the Beast King? I was your enemy. But you would fight alongside me all the same? How can you trust that I won't turn my sword against you one day?

I was there when you confronted the Beast King, that was enough to convince me. Feinne believed in you when she restored you to life, and I have to respect her wishes as well. Besides, Altena is Feinne's best friend. We can't just leave her with the ogres.

Aldo's right. Come with us!

I see no problem with putting our differences in the past to one side. ...Or in the future for you, actually.

And I don't begrudge you one bit for the Beast King's misdeeds. ...Well, perhaps a smidgeon in truth.

If Aldo and Feinne are on board, that's good enough for me.

I will be able to enrich my data banks by continuing to observe your actions.

Co-operation's the way to go when facing an enemy as cunning as Zennon.

You guys really are a welcoming group. It's decided then. Let's confine those wretched ogres to history once and for all!

We'll be depending on you, Guildna.

It won't be easy, but we have to find a way. Come on, let's go!

I truly wonder if they can make it out of this safely...

Who? Oh, Aldo and the others? I would not fret unduly for them. He may not appear so, but that lad has a fearsome strength within him. What concerns me is the ogre clan.

Verily, there is no way of telling what the stars have destined for the holy blade of Palsifal. And what of its intertwined fate with the cursed blade, Ogre Rancorem... At this moment in time, we can only speculate.

Under the might of the Thunder King and his sword, we shall crush the ogres!

The time has come for us to show the ogre clan what true Miglance knights are made of!

The ogre clan, vanquished all those millennia ago, here, in this reality. I still find it hard to comprehend.

Believable or not, it seems we have ourselves quite a hunt to enjoy!

All the ogres just got a lil' lost in time is all. Let's help 'em find their way back.

The holy blade of Palsifal... Ogre Rancorem... The whole ogre clan, wiped out over 3000 years ago... Is that really all that became of us? But now that we're here in the future, this is our chance to avenge our defeat!

What they considered history is about to be rewritten with the blade I shall obtain, and on the pages hence... I will compose an ode to the annihilation of the Thunder King and the triumph of I, Ogre Zennon! Fwahahahah! Fwahahahahahahahaha!