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Dream
by Cyberchao/X
Chapter 195
5 Sagittarius 2307
16:00 PM
Citadel of Pain—9F
CCX: Huh. Shorter battle than I expected it to be.
CC: Yeah, we left a full day’s worth of time for it in the timestamps, but ended up able to move it up. Just barely eked out a two-pager last time, which means we’ll need at least three for another season of 3.00 PPCA. Shall we begin?
“Those other three artifacts you obtained…together, I think we can solve this problem. The one with the Phoenix Flame Crossbow needs to use the Trident of Juri for this. I’m going to need contact with the Shield of Karashti for this. Have her fire the trident from the crossbow at the completion of the spell.” Izumo went over and told Alania of the plan. Alania had her doubts about trusting Terra, but she did so anyway. Izumo rushed back in and put the Shield of Karashti up to the Mantle of Calu, and Terra began to cast the spell.
CC: Probably. There’s not a lot that can be done for a single attack taking up a good portion of an episode to complete. I’m still awestruck that it’s ever been done successfully at all. (I’m sure you all know exactly which series I’m referring to.)
CCX: Well, we had some plans for how to extend it, plans that didn’t even necessarily involve the two of us in commentary mode. Let’s go.
While Arden and the other fighters kept pounding Darkage at the spot in which the seal was being formed, the magic-users of the party were turning their attention to other matters. “I think we can restore him now,” Tillli said, and Tomai nodded. “I can help if you want,” she offered.
“Well, we can’t do it yet,” Tomai said, “not as he is right now.” He called Rin’ku over. “Can you heal him?”
“He’s kind of, er, not showing signs of life.”
“He’s petrified. He did it to himself to slow down the dying process. If we take him out of the stone before healing him, he’ll just die too quickly.”
“Erm…I’ve never healed a person who had been turned to stone before.”
“Do you think there’d be even a slight window?” Tillli asked. “You know, we have Rin’ku go about it as if he was healing Richu regularly, and return him to normal the instant before the spell is completed?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I didn’t think it would be this big of a problem…I don’t think Richu did, either.”
“I could try to summon a celestial with advanced healing abilities…” Daniela said.
“Save your summonings,” Rin’ku said, “I can handle it.” He cast his strongest healing spells, hoping that they would work. Tomai undid the petrification. “Richu, are you okay?”
“…I’ve been better.” Rin’ku gave him some more rounds of healing. “So if I’m back, then we must have won?”
“Close,” Daniela said, “we think we should have him finished when this goes through.” She indicated the scene unfolding on the other side of the arena. “You really are something else, Richu, you know that? Giving your life to impress a girl and living to enjoy the results.”
“It was a powerful attack. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen on my watch,” he said, grinning. “Better it hit someone who at least had a chance of surviving.” A fist to the top of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”
“That was for making me cry in public. I wasn’t too rough, was I?”
“Nah, even back to normal he’s got rocks in his head,” Reala said, earning a mild shock from a basic spell.
Terra had just about finished up the seal. “Okay, now, into the center of the seal!” The jewel in the hilt of the Trident of Juri turned red-orange as it sailed towards the seal, engulfed by flames from the Phoenix Flame Crossbow, and it hit the seal dead on. “Urk…is it time for me to do the defeated supervillain speech already?” Darkage asked. “Fine, then…you may have beaten me, but this is not over. Your perils are only just beginning!” A brilliant flash of light, and then…
Typical. He certainly has a knack for doing that, doesn’t he? Astra deadpanned.
“You can’t show at least a little concern? My father has disappeared, again!”
True… that could be bad. Darkage had no idea what he was talking about if he thought he could return to torment you once more… but I don’t think Izumo’s gone for good this time, even if Darkage is.
“So is this the end of our journey?” Sekiya asked. Balakar progressed up to the roof of the castle, just above, then returned and replied, No.
“Then what have we been doing all of this for?” Misra asked. “I thought this was supposed to be the climax, the last battle we had to fight!”
Another brilliant flash of light. “Dad?” Alania asked.
“Huh? No, I’m nobody’s father…” the figure said, looking about with a confused expression. “What happened?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Alania said. “Who are you and where’s my father?”
“If his disappearance and my arrival are related, he likely ended up in my home world of Chaotica. My name is Spirit Tsunami the Eighteenth, descendent of the one thousand, four hundred and forty-ninth incarnation of the Spirit of Chaos, Spirit Tsunami the First, and myself the one thousand, four hundred and fifty-second incarnation of the Spirit of Chaos.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~END THE BOOK OF ALANIA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CCX: It was a few seasons back that we came to the realization that the Book of Alania would not be the final book in the series. This was the product of a simple realization that a number of great fantasy sagas come in trilogies—most notably Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, but also Christopher Paolini’s Eragon trilogy, Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (not his only trilogy, but the only one I can remember off-hand), and even Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy—although that one ended up going past the initial three books. Although its sometimes satirical ways make this story closest resemble that last one, this saga will probably not go past the third book. Still, now it’s my turn to be shocked by something in the story. Wasn’t the matter that was alluded to in Chapter 80 supposed to be cleared up by the end of the Book of Alania?
CC: That’s what I was alluding to when I said “You have no idea…” (Chapter 190, page 429). Yes, I know, originally the major focus of Alania and the gang’s portion of the third book was focused with Spirit’s quest, but then it hit me—Darkage wasn’t the cause of the problem. Don’t worry; it should clear up by the end of the sixteenth season. PPCA for season 15: 3.00. The final PPCA for the Book of Alania was 2.53, and the PPCA for the entire story to date is 2.26. Of course, now there’s the problem of knowing what comes next…
CCX: You’re not serious…
