A familiar, painfully irritating, snarky, boyish voice rang out.
"Kept ya waiting long enough."
Lucid looked up. Standing in front of him was a figure in a worn blue cloak, a wide-brimmed hat obscuring the upper half of his face. A case that likely held a violin was slung across his back. In his hand, held in a low guard stance, was a simple but well-made short sword.
"Tempest of Shadows, First Form!" the figure yelled, his body moving with a practiced, flowing grace that Lucid recognized from a painfully familiar, distant time.
"What the..." Lucid muttered.
The man in the black suit reacted instantly, stepping to the side with a liquid, effortless motion, bending at the waist to avoid the initial slash. He said nothing, his expression unchanging.
A flurry of slashes followed from the newcomer who had come to Lucid's aid. The man in black parried each one with minimal movement, his own blade a silver blur, stepping back to maintain a precise, gauging distance. Lucid forced himself to his feet. Pain instantly flared in his stomach, but he gritted his teeth and focused, gathering what little personal Fate Essence he had left. That was not quite right. Lucid practically had access to a vast reservoir of Fate Essence because of Alice's bond, but using too much of it at once, or channeling it through his untrained body too violently, would cause a system crash. He remembered that now.
A faint green glow enveloped him, stitching the deep wound in his belly from the inside out. The bleeding slowed, then stopped, the flesh knitting together into a raw, pink scar. He was healing.
"Wow, dude, I didn't know you could do that!" the cloaked figure called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off their opponent.
Lucid stared at the person defending him.
"Jake," he said under his breath.
There was no time for greetings or questions. They were in grave danger. This required their full attention. Well, at least it required Lucid's full attention.
"Oh. It is you," the man in black said, his monotone voice carrying a hint of what might have been disappointment. "How disappointing. The wound was non-lethal. I was not planning on killing him."
"Yeah, yeah, cut the bull crap," Jake shot back, shifting his weight.
"You do not want me to play my violin?" Jake asked, his voice taking on a theatrical lilt.
"Your violin?" the man asked, genuine confusion briefly breaking through his calm facade.
"OH, YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO HEAR HIS VIOLIN!" Lucid yelled, almost pleading for the man's life. Whether it was out of firsthand experience or a strange sense of mercy, Lucid could not help but be scared. Jake seemed like a walking, talking time bomb.
Lucid summoned his chain in his right hand, letting the luminous white links wrap around his forearm and down to his knuckles. He focused, binding the ethereal material tightly to his fingers, creating a kind of glowing brass knuckle. It was a technique he had never used, but it felt effective for close punches. His other hand, his left, now fully healed, was free of any enhancement. It had another goal.
"I will stay at the back. I am not much use in close combat," Lucid called to Jake. "Charge in, no matter how reckless. I will shield you."
"Shield me? With those?" Jake said, glancing at the chains.
"Shut up and go!" Lucid barked.
He focused inward, his thoughts reaching for Alice inside him. 'Hey, Alice. Focus on regenerating Fate Essence. We are going to need a lot.'
"Okay, Lucid. Please do not die," her voice replied, thick with worry.
'Of course I am not planning on dying!'
Jake charged, his sword held low. The man in black did not move to meet him. Instead, his free hand flicked outward. One, two, three, four daggers seemed to materialize in the air and shoot toward Jake with lethal precision. Normally, with Jake running headlong and focused on the target, it would be impossible to dodge them completely. They would at least graze his face and body.
A chain shot out from the cave wall to the side. Then another from the ground near Jake's feet. Lucid, his mind split, controlled the chains protruding from the environment, intercepting the flying daggers with sharp *pings* of metal on energy. The man's eyes flickered toward Lucid, noticing the interference. He drew his own sword, a slender, dark blade, and prepared to engage Jake in close combat.
Jake struck from above. The man in black simply raised his hand, the hilt of his sword meeting Jake's blade with a shower of sparks. They held for a moment, strength against immovable technique, before the man twisted his wrist. His sword moved horizontally, a simple, brutal motion that knocked Jake's blade aside and sent him staggering back a step. Seizing the opening, the man lunged, his blade aimed to pierce Jake's stomach.
A chain shot up from the rocky ground directly between them, not at the man, but at his sword. It wrapped around the blade with a clatter of light, and with a tremendous heave of will from Lucid, it jerked the weapon's trajectory just slightly to the left.
That was enough. Jake recovered, grabbing his sword with both hands and swinging it upwards in a furious arc, trying to cut the man vertically from where he stood.
But the man was too quick, too practiced. He disengaged, flowing back like smoke. However, he was not unharmed. A faint, red line appeared on his right cheek.
"How interesting," the man murmured, touching the cut with his thumb.
Jake charged forward again, now confident, even arrogant, trusting that Lucid would shield him.
The man in black calmly raised his palm toward the charging musician.
"CRAP, JAKE!" Lucid screamed.
A dark violet energy flared from the man's palm, condensing into a searing beam.
Jake saw it too late to dodge. "Unbound Lullaby!" he yelled. Faint musical notes, visible as blue motes of light, formed a shimmering perimeter around his legs. The air warped, and in a blink, Jake was not in front of the beam, but had manifested several meters behind where the man was standing.
The man fired the beam. But as it lanced out, he turned his head, his body already pivoting. Jake had teleported directly into his line of fire.
Lucid, a great distance away, was already moving. He flung his arms out, his fingers clawing the air as he made complex, frantic gestures. Two, three, four, five, six chains shot out from uneven intervals in the cave floor, walls, and ceiling, all converging on the man's outstretched hand. They bound it, wrapping the glowing palm and forcing it shut. The violet beam sputtered and died.
It worked. But the strain was immense. Lucid fell to his knees, vomiting a torrent of blood onto the stone. His vision swam.
"No! Lucid, get up!" Alice's voice was a panicked shriek in his soul.
The man in black saw his chance. Lucid was on the ground, wide open, defenseless. The man closed the distance in less than a second, his dark blade poised for a final, silent thrust.
Lucid, on his knees, clenched his bloody fist and slammed it into the ground.
"CHAIN!"
A barricade of chains, thicker than any before, erupted from the earth. They shot out horizontally, diagonally, vertically, at every conceivable angle, weaving together into a dense, glowing wall between Lucid and his attacker. The man was forced to halt, his blade stopping inches from the luminous barrier.
A lot of blood came out of Lucid's mouth this time. He was losing too much. This was dangerous.
The man turned away from the chain-wall, his attention shifting back to Jake.
Jake had his violin out, the instrument now held under his chin, the bow poised above the strings.
"Ready to hear my masterpiece?" Jake said, his voice echoing strangely in the cavern. "Cave In Melodious!"
The man resumed dashing toward Jake. A single, resonating note from the violin protruded through the air, wrapping the cave in a sudden, deep melody. It was not an attack aimed at the man. Jake did not focus on him, or on himself. His eyes were closed, his focus entirely on the music and on Lucid, still behind the wall of chains.
A brilliant blue light flared up, forming a perfect, shimmering circle on the ground on the other side of the chain wall, right around Jake's feet.
"Are you leaving so soon?" the man asked, still running, his blade rising.
"Yup! See ya!" Jake chirped.
The world began to be engulfed in the blue light. The cave walls seemed to vibrate with the sound. Jake's form started to dissolve into particles of azure energy.
The man skidded to a halt, his cold glare snapping from the vanishing Jake to Lucid, who was still slumped behind his chains. In the moment before Lucid was pulled into the teleportation, their eyes met.
Before Lucid was transported, he heard the man's final, ominous message, delivered not with a shout, but with a calm, penetrating certainty that cut through the music.
"Lucid, is it? Our organization, The Chapeau, will stop at nothing to find you. Run. Hide. Fight. Expect me soon. And I will capture you..."
He looked directly at Lucid, a predator memorizing its prey.
Alice gasped in his mind.
Lucid, with the last of his strength, lifted his bloodied hand and showed the man in black his middle finger.
The man's mouth, just at the corner, curled up into the faintest, most chilling hint of a smile.
And then he was gone.