Legend | Celeste Academy Series BK #2

Chapter 22 ♕ Skeleton Zombie Tunnel (pt. 2)

"Cruel." Keelan shook his head. "They won't even let the person rot."

Valeriana didn't know if she was supposed to take that as a joke or not.

Elfre was immediately beside him, hitting him on the back of the head. "Can't you read the atmosphere, you idiot?"

"O-ow . . ." He looked at her, pained. "What was that for? Isn't it a part of life to rot when you're dead?"

"Whatever, dimwit." She then walked away.

That . . . was weird. Valeriana thought to herself.

"Is this where the entirety of those nine squadrons of knights ended up?" Rowe asked.

Every footstep they made echoed. Occasionally, they would feel something crumbling underneath their feet. The sharp crunches that came from the bones as they cracked made Valeriana feel creeped out. As they all slowly advanced, they couldn't help but feel wary of their surroundings. Being in such a place, they did not know what to expect.

"Everyone, ready your weapons." Charles said as he stood up, apparently finished examining the remains of the fallen soldier. "There's no telling what might happen and this place doesn't feel right at all."

He didn't need to tell them though, everyone within the group were ready for combat if ever. Valeriana had had trouble drawing her sword, but when she did, she clung to it like a lifeline and steadily walked behind the others. Everyone had their own preferred weapons ready—Tamara having her twin swords in a firm grip in both hands, Rowe having secured his arm blades in place, and so on and so forth. Valeriana realized that, although she never actually saw the others fight before, finally having the chance to see them in action excited her. What only she felt strange about was seeing Raziel hold a whip. It wasn't as though it wasn't suiting. It was just . . . strange.

Valeriana's eyes went toward Charles, who suddenly had a big, spear-like weapon in his hand. The only difference was the blade being longer, about forty centimeters or so, and was curved on the end. She did remember its classification, and Charles himself mentioned it before.

"What suddenly got you gawking?" Charles asked her.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "I was wondering what kind of weapon you're holding and where in the world it came from."

"A glaive. I'm able to fold it when needed so that it's not too troublesome to carry around." He said. "I told you before, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I remember. It just slipped from my mind, I guess." She told him, her voice quieting.

Zion lazily took out a different weapon. He wasn't using the lance this time. Instead, he had a sword as well. When he caught Valeriana eyeing him questioningly, he flashed her a smile and shot a wink her way.

Valeriana rolled her eyes.

She decided to look ahead and focus when her vision suddenly blurred. A head-splitting headache assaulted her and she doubled over from the agony, the weapon slipping from her hand and making a series of clang on the floor as it fell. Her hands instinctively flew up to cradle the spot where the pain originated.

"Valeriana?" Genevieve asked worriedly.

The whole group stopped and looked back, questioningly gazing at the girl.

Charles knelt beside her and kept her from completely falling over. "What is it?"

"It . . . hurts . . ." She whispered, trying to put some pressure on her forehead in failed attempts to ease the pain that tormented her.

Zion ran to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Where does it hurt?"

Corvan narrowed his eyes at this.