Narrator's POV
"Is there something you'd like to talk about?"
Welt stared down at Ryan, who remained sitting on the edge of the bed that belonged to the room he had in Belobog, the boy seemed to think for a few seconds before nodding with his head slightly.
"There...actually is something, Mr.Yang" he replied while looking at him.
"Well then" the adult man pushed up his glasses "I'm all ears"
Ryan slowly let out a small sigh, mentally preparing himself to start speaking. "You were right, Mr.Yang, I haven't been completely genuine with all of you, and I don't think it'll be easy for me to be, there are many things I'd wish to keep for myself, but I feel that with you, I can open up a little, you're...not from this universe either, are you?"
Welt opened his eyes a little but soon nodded his head. "You're right, just like you, I got separated from my home, and even if we went through different situations, I'm not a stranger to the feeling of being taken so suddenly to a weird place..."
"It's only been...a few days since I arrived, I don't even know for how long I was drifting through space before the Express found me, I admit that I'm glad the Express is treating me gently while knowing nothing about me, I'll also admit that I'll...have to take advantage of you as much as I can before I set out to travel on my own" he bowed his head a little and the adult let out a small chuckle.
"Ryan, you won't have to take advantage of us, you're a companion, and friend of ours, what you need is our assistance, and we're happy to help as much as we can" he sat down beside the boy. "Now, I feel you want to tell me something important"
Ryan nodded at his words and let out a small sight. "I want to tell you about myself, Mr.Yang, about stuff that could be seen as...troubling for the Express"
With a slow nod the man spoke. "I'm listening"
"To start...Ryan is not...actually my name, or in some ways, it isn't, what could be considered my real name is Ace Chevalier, after I was born, my parents were murdered, I suspect I would've been taken down too, but they managed to save me in time"
"Your parents...do you know who did it?" He asked a bit worried.
"No...and honestly I...I don't think I care" he spoke and the man widened his eyes a little. "It might sound cold, but I don't have any memories of them, for me they're just...strangers"
"I see...I assume you were raised by the ones who found you after you were saved?"
"Only for my first years, I was found by an elderly couple...when I was 4, monsters attacked our village, I wasn't there at the time so I didn't find myself Involved in the attack but...when I returned there, everyone was dead" he explained and the adult burrowed his brows. "I just left, I didn't have any reason to be there anymore...and a few months later, I was found by Mr.Teo, who decided to take me with him and train me"
"That man, you look up to him don't you?"
"Always, he trained me, taught me all I know and...he is the first person I've felt any kind of feeling towards"
"Ryan..."
"My family, the Chevaliers, we were in a way created by a goddess, in this universe's terms, we'd be considered Emanators, we take power from her, and in exchange, we...kill for her"
"that goddess is the one you said that could take you back home, is she..."
"She's a goddess of death, more precisely, the goddess of assassination, that's why we would kill for her, she wouldn't explicitly give us orders, because the job of my family was already that...as far as I know, the Chevaliers have always worked under the Emperor's order as personal assassins"
"Do you also have that work?"
"It's not my official position...but I do, I've already taken jobs from the Emperor before, and some of them are ones I'm not proud of..."
"I see...is this all you wished to share, Ryan?"
"No...there's something else, I'm...in a way, not myself at the moment" he spoke and Welt widened his eyes a little. "Ryan Chevalier itself does not exist, it's...someone I built, Mr.Teo needed me for his revenge, and to be of help, I needed to understand him, to understand what he felt, when the goddess started to create us, Chevaliers, she took many things away from us, empathy, guilt, happiness and love are just some of the things she took away from us to make us better, but I needed to understand those feelings if I wanted to be of help to Mr.Teo..."
"So Ryan Chevalier....is a mask" the man spoke with some worry in his voice. "And Ace Chevalier is the true face behind it"
"I've used this mask for so long that...I don't know if it's a mask anymore..."
"Would you want it to stop being one?" Welt asked and the white-haired boy sighed.
"Yes...I don't want this...dark nature in my soul, Ace Chevalier, I want him far away, I want to know that these feelings are real and not something I fake to make myself look more human"
"Rejecting your nature that way is not healthy, and you know it..."
"I don't have other choice, I want to change, to not be a monster...and rip that part away from me is the only thing I can think of" he let out a soft sigh before standing up. "Sorry Mr.Yang, I don't know how you'll feel knowing this now..."
"It's okay, telling me about your true nature wasn't a bad decision, opening yourself to people is not bad, it shows trust" Welt slowly stood up and looked at him. "I...understand if telling me this was hard for you, Ace"
"Thanks for understanding, Mr.Yang...I'd appreciate if you kept all of this to yourself, at least for now" he made a small pause before continuing. "And...just call me Ryan, please"
....
"Oh no"
Welt spoke up with his brows furrowed, the hypnotized Ryan stared at the group quite plainly, the adult tightened the grip on his cane, and as soon as he saw Ryan move a single muscle, he dashed directly at him.
Both of them clashed their scabbard and cane letting out a small expansive wave rise some dust from the ground, Ryan's free hand waved downwards and Welt looked up briefly seeing a magic circle appear, he then dodged backwards to avoided a fireball that separates both of them, the white-haired rose two fingers and various fireballs formed around him one by one flying at Welt.
"Serval! Defend Lady Tingyun!" He rose his voice as he waved his cane blocking a fireball. "Stelle, March keep an eye on Kafka!"
Before he heard the others reply to him, he rolled to the side to avoid another fireball, he then started to run to avoid the rest, pushing his glasses up he started to counterattack, throwing waves of dark energy at Ryan who used the scabbard to slash at them blocking the attacks even though he seemed to back off a little with each block.
"He doesn't seem aggressive, he's fighting defensively, Kafka told him to stall us...she's trying to buy time for some reason" the adult frowned a little. "I'll have to be aggressive and find a chance to snap him out of her control or knock him out if possible"
With that thought in mind Welt immediately rushed Ryan down, the white-haired boy waved his hand upwards throwing a wave of ice directly at him, the adult jumped to dodge the attack and immediately saw himself surrounded by orange magic circles, waving his cane he formed a small shield of dark energy to block the fireballs that were soon launched at him, after blocking he fell on the remaining ice of the previous attack and used it as foothold to launch himself directly at Ryan.
The moon spirit held his scabbard high to block and attack from Welt's cane and immediately started to exchange blows, even though the adult clearly seemed to have the advantage on the exchange as he soon grabbed the pointy end of the cane and used the other side to hook Ryan's scabbard, giving a pull strong enough to take it away from him and throwing it away.
The movement got close enough to try and attack him away with his cane, but Ryan reacted quick enough to grab it with his hand starting to cover the cane with Ice, Welt jumped back freeing his cane from Ryan's grasp and quickly surrounded it with dark energy to break ice, he then tapped the ground with the cane and formed a heightened gravity area around Ryan, who seemed to stumble lightly before he stepped on the ground hard, forming a purple magic circle under him dispelling Welt's gravity area.
"If I heighten the gravity he can just use gravity magic to balance it out, even without his scabbard as a weapon he still has too many tools to control the fight..." Welt narrowed his eyes looking at him. "I don't want to hurt him...but we can't lose time either"
Welt pushed his glasses up, and tapped his cane twice against the ground, multiple miniature blackholes started to appear around Ryan, who immediately jumped back to dodge them as they expanded, more started to appear around him and he continued to dodge the expanding black holes.
"Throwing you lethal but easy to dodge attacks, Kafka's control doesn't seem to let you think or focus clearly" Welt narrowed his eyes. "So this...leaves you open"
As Ryan dodged, Welt managed to quickly rush to his back, when the white-haired realized and turned around to attack it was already to late, Welt thrusted his hand forward, striking Ryan's chest with a palm strike, he then closed more the distance to hit his stomach with his elbow, and then his other hand tightly held the cane, surrounding it with dark energy before striking Ryan's head directly, a small explosion sending him flying backwards.
Ryan's body bounced a little on the floor due to the strong hit he has just received, the ornament on his head fell to the ground and he successfully got his feet on the ground, dragging them across the floor as he put his hand on his face, as if to feel the pain on his head, Welt narrowed his eyes a little, holding the cane a little tighter.
"That... should've knocked him out, I'm sure I hit strong enough for that"
The adult's gaze lowered a little seeing some dark smoke start to rise and move straight to the white-haired boy.
"M-Mr.Yang?! What's happening?" The voice of March trembled behind him.
The adult looked behind him momentarily, seeing the trailblazer group a little wary which made him burrow his brows and look back at Ryan, the smoke got closer to him, and soon seemed to crawl up him, stopping at his neck and then it quickly condensed, forming a black cape and hood around him, Welt frowned a little, seeing the pair of silver eyes that stared under the black hood.
"Kafka doesn't seem to be in control anymore..." He looked towards the Stellaron Hunter, who has remained sitting during the fight but now seemed to be a little taken back. "And it looks like she realized too"
Before Welt could try to make a single movement, Ryan quickly rose a hand and a magic circle formed directly under Welt's feet, the adult jumped back avoiding an ice spike that almost impaled him, his feet touched the ground and he had to rise and wave his cane to stop a fireball that had gone directly to his head.
"Kafka's not in control anymore, but he's still hostile?...don't tell me"
Welt's face saddened for a second before he returned to his stoic expression, he waved his hand to push away the smoke that the fireball had left and then tapped his cane down on the floor, looking straight at the moon spirit.
"Ryan...are you even aware of what you're doing to yourself? Did you really wish to separate yourself from your nature so much that this happened to you?" The trailblazer closed his eyes for a second as he sighed, and then stared directly at him. "Ace Chevalier, stand down, we're not your enemies"
As a reply, the white-haired boy simply closed his left hand in a punch before waving it forward letting a wave of fire come out of his hand directly at Welt, who seeing the attack approach, gritted his teeth and waved his cane upwards separating the wave of fire with a slash of dark energy that went straight at him, though Ryan simply side stepped to avoid the attack.
The white-haired boy immediately dashed at Welt and his hands formed two fireballs that he threw directly at the adult, Welt quickly blocked them with his cane, his sight being momentarily blocked by the smoke before he saw Ryan flanking him from the left getting ready to throw another fireball at him.
"That's an illusion" Welt remained still as the illusion threw the fireball at him, though it simply went through him. "Where is he?"
The adult looked around for a little while before looking up and rising his cane to block the hit from a scabbard, he frowned as he looked at Ryan who now has regained his weapon, Welt pushed him back and away from him and then quickly dashed at him to continue fighting.
Meanwhile, away from the two combatants, the rest of the Astral Express looked at them.
"We can't let Mr.Yang handle Ryan on his own" Stelle clicked her tongue a little.
"I know but we have to keep and eye on Kafka..." March spoke looking at the Stellaron Hunter.
Kafka remained sitting on the box, her gaze looking at Ryan and Welt. "I lost control of him the moment Welt Yang struck him in the head...but then, why's he still fighting?" Her gaze moved towards the other trailblazers, and catching on to their worried expressions she simply smiled. "No need to look at me~ I'm not moving from here~ you can go and help that man"
"U-ugh...you better not move!" Stelle pointed at the woman before grasping her bat. "Serval, take the furry away and come back"
"F-furry?" Tingyun looked at the a girl a little taken back.
"Be careful" the blonde woman soon grabbed Tingyun's hand "let's go!"
Serval took the fox lady away, and Stelle immediately decided to run and join the fight, with March following her lead and creating an arrow on her bow and aiming directly at Ryan.
Welt gave a thrust with his cane but Ryan quickly parried it with his scabbard, then on his right hand he created and ethereal dagger, using it to throw a stab directly at Welt's neck though the adult trailblazer dodged it leaning backwards, he gave a step back and analyzed Ryan, who made a small eye movement, letting the adult predict and bend down to dodge a fireball that went right above him.
"He doesn't seem to be fighting with all his strength yet, I can't let this drag any longer" Welt's thought was immediately interrupted as Ryan thrusted his hand forwards ready to throw another fireball.
"Bad Ryan!"
Stelle threw a downwards hit with her back to try and hit Ryan's arm, even though the white-haired boy managed to move his arm away, he immediately pointed it at the trash panda instead, but when some fire started to form in his palm, Welt moved his hand away from the girl, letting the fireball come out barely missing Stelle's head.
Welt used his cane and struck Ryan on the stomach, pushing him away, Stelle grunted and formed the Architect Lance on her left hand throwing it up and grabbing her bat with both hands slamming at her second weapon the moment it came down letting the Lance fly directly at Ryan who formed an ice wall blocking the weapon even if the tip went right through the ice.
Welt jumped high and threw small waves of dark energy at Ryan, who used his scabbard, coating it in dark smoke being able to parry and cut right through Welt's attacks, he instinctively moved his body to the side, dodging an ice arrow that had gone close to his shoulder, his silver eyes then immediately locked onto March 7th, who formed two more arrows shooting them at him.
He quickly dashed at the pink girl, using his scabbard to parry and break the attacks, while the girl simply gave a step back and with trembling fingers she formed another arrow, but before Ryan got close enough to her, Stelle got in the middle throwide a sideways strike with her bat though the white-haired boy leaned back to dodge it, the trailblazer the closed the distance and started to throw attacks at him even though the boy seemed to not have many trouble dodging, she grunted and threw her bat at him and in response he parried it letting it fly upwards, Stelle quickly saw this and jumped up, grabbing her weapon midair and driving it down with a downwards hit as the bat shined.
The hit barely missed, hitting the ground and creating a small crater as it cracked the floor around, Ryan quickly held his scabbard tight and thrusted at Stelle, hitting her chest with it, making the girl gasp out loudly as she felt air being pushed out of her lungs, then he grabbed her hair and was about to slam her against the ground but a purple lightning flew straight at him forcing him to jump back to dodge.
Serval returned and immediately threw more lightning at him, making the white-haired boy dodge each one of them until she stopped, Ryan slowly looked behind and saw Welt staring him down from the distance, in front of him he had Stelle and Serval, while on the side he now had March, he found himself completely surrounded.
Welt was about to make the first move, but stopped as soon as he saw Ryan breathe in deeply, the white-haired boy slowly exhaled and stood still for a few seconds...then he completely dissapeared.
"His Invisibility is not an illusion!" Welt frowned a little. "I can't see him" his eyes looked around. "Everyone be ready to react to a furtive attack!"
The group immediately understood the situation and remained alert, while Welt's eyes scanned the area, trying to find even the slightest clue on where the invisible enemy could be now, suddenly he saw something behind Serval, the adult quickly moved and threw an attack, but as soon as he attacked he realized something.
"I acted too fast! That's an illusion" the adult's mind started to quickly process the situation. "Did he use a decoy in hopes of me messing up? He knows the others are not capable of reacting to a furtive attack, and uses that to make me overreact, Serval is probably safe, who's taking the real attack? I moved too much and the attack exposed me, Stelle is close to Serval, so she could defend her in case he attacked, I'm exposed to an attack, but he already knows I can follow his movements, March-"
Welt looked straight at the girl with the bow, but it seemed to be already too late, Ryan was behind March who seemingly didn't even know he was there as the white-haired boy was already in the middle of an attack as Welt dashed at them to try and stop him.
Ryan's scabbard got surrounded by black smoke as he threw a sideways strike to March's torso, the pink girl seemed to barely gaze at him just before the strike hit her directly, but for just a small fraction of a second, March's eyes briefly glinted red, her right arm surrounded with Ice as it received the attack from the scabbard, the Iced mitigating the damage of the strike as the girl was sent flying hitting one of the nearby containers pretty hard.
Welt tackled Ryan, grabbing his head and slamming him against another container, his other hand let go of the cane and grabbed the white-haired boy's throat.
"I was trying not to hurt your body, Ace..." The adult muttered as he stared directly into the pair of dead silver eyes. "But I can't risk the others getting in more danger, I hope Ryan understands"
A sudden burst of dark energy covered both of them, Stelle and Serval quickly went to check on March, who remained completely unconscious on the ground with some small drops of blood dripping down her forehead due to the hit on the container, the burst soon died down, and Ryan fell to the ground, the cape dissipating away as he lost consciousness.
Welt, looked down at him with a frown but soon turned around and ran towards March, kneeling down at her side.
"How is she?"
"She received a hit on the head, her right arm seems broken too..." Serval spoke with a frown.
"I saw her managing to mitigate the attack with her Six-Phased ice...if she hadn't managed to pull that off in time I don't know what could've happened to her..." Welt gritted his teeth a little.
Away from the group, Kafka was still sitting on the box, her eyes narrowed looking at the group, but soon her eyes moved towards the unconscious moon spirit, she uncrossed her legs and stood up, unsheathing her blade she started to approach the unconscious Ryan.
Welt briefly saw the woman rise her sword, ready to stab the unconscious boy, frowning he was immediately ready to throw himself at Kafka, but a voice stopped him and the woman.
"This is weird..."
Kafka remained silent for a second before sighing, sheating her katana she looked back and up, looking at Fu Xuan stare down at her, or rather, at Ryan, her feet resting on a transparent pink platform that she used as foothold in mid air.
"Did the matrix malfunction? No...that can't be right, or perhaps..."
The short woman slowly hovered down to the ground, her pink eyes looking at the white-haired boy before narrowing with suspicion.
"Something that shouldn't exist, is right here"
★ ★ ★
A/N: It'll just take me a week I said, just a small 3 days rest I said, I don't know why It took me so long to write this specific chapter, it's not even THAT heavy to write, I just hope I can finished the next one before Christmas-
Anyways, Hope you enjoyed!