Land of the Blades

37. Communication

—That's right! Lapis has to be here, I have a lot of questions! —I said, looking around for him, but I noticed that the girl that I was still carrying on my arms was pointing to the sky.

There was some sort of ring floating in the sky, surrounding the island in which I stood. There were also six moons, and a giant black box floating in space. The black box intrigued me, but the ring was what really caught my attention. I knew some planets had ring made of debris floating around them, but ours surely didn't. I looked at it intently, trying to discern its components. I started trembling when I did.

—GHOST!

His shattered body was there, as well as everyone who had been stolen from us. I started running until I got to the ocean, which started freezing as I walked over it. I tried to reach out, but I couldn't reach him with MY arms. They broke into pieces and the gold alloy started to flow from within, helping me reach a bit further.

—Just a bit more, please! —I said, feeling like I was about to reach him.

But I hit something between us, and was suddenly awoken when I rolled out of my bed and into the hard floor. I heard quick footsteps coming in my direction.

—Sempai, are you alright?!

—We heard you screaming all the way from our room!

Goshe and Morga had appeared suddenly next to where I was laying naked, tangled in my covers, and still crying. That was definitely not the image I wanted to give them of me, but they didn't seem to be bother by it. After a few excuses, they allowed me to get dressed in private, and I went to met with Antarc and Cairn. To my surprise, the newbies decided to tag along.

—Are they glued to you? —Cairn asked.

—That seems to be the case... —I said, forcing a smile.

—We'll be working as sempai's bodyguard from now on —Goshe said, very pumped about that idea.

—We can learn some valuable lessons from our elders, I think —Morga timidly added.

Cairn threw me a glare, knowing I had budged after hearing those exact reasons, but he didn't press on the matter. We had patrol duty that day, but it was only going to be us four as Antarc had to take care of the greenhouse. Before leaving, I ate a toast with marmalade, and took a huge cup of coffee to go. Later on the day, I did some sparring with Goshe and Morga, while Cairn lazed around. Then, we heard a whistle. A sunspot has appeared on the twin shores, spotted by Benito and Nepuchi. We had been pretty closer, so we were the first to arrive.

—How many are really there? —Cairn said.

I looked all around, and I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.

—There is just that one.

—Really? That's almost boring...

—W-we still need to be cautious... —I said, trying to suppress my reckless nature, and instructed everyone to cover our backs while Cairn and I would deal with it.

Cairn refused to let me carry him, so he instead used my alloy like a jumping platform. I realized that it was the first time I was actually facing Lunarians since I got Lapis' head, and I instinctively started to analyze the type and configuration of their vessel. The input of information was a bit too much, but it helped me that they weren't shooting arrows at us at the moment.

—Wait, they aren't attacking us? —Cairn said, making me realize what was really happening in front of me.

I had been so immersed in the Lunarians, that I didn't noticed the shadow servant that was being held against the "floor" of the vessel. A sundry came out of the crowd and starting playing the flute.

—What are they doing?

—I... I don't know? —I said, but that melody brought memories of a long time ago—, are they... are they trying to communicate with us??

—Phos-sempai! We have come to help! —Goshe said, jumping unexpectedly to attack the central statue of the vessel.

I hadn't retracted the gold alloy to keep the vessel anchored to the ground, but he and Morga had used it to climb it without me noticing.

—Wait! —I tried to stop him, but while I managed to grab him with my alloy, he still managed to cut it in half. That set off the trap.

Four tentacles emerged from the beheaded statue, each with a sharp blade made of Goshenite at the end. They started to move in a chaotic manner, evaporating most of the Lunarians in just a few seconds. I got Goshe away from the immediate danger just in time, but the tentacle managed to cut my arm. Fortunately, both the Goshe and the alloy fell over me, allowing me catch the former and reunite the latter to my body.

—Step back, I'm going to use the spear! —Cairn said as his weapon started to glow with a dark red aura.

The tentacles seemed to react to this, and they all went to attack Cairn. I ran to where he was and tackled him out of the vessel. He did managed to throw the spear even as we were falling to the ground, and the sunspot was promptly pierced by the almost infinite spikes of Gae Bolg.

—Is everyone alright? —I asked, once we had touched the ground.

—My arm is broken... —Cairn said in deadpan tone.

It was indeed a bit shattered, which reminded me that the time I used it as a noble phantasm it almost broke me into pieces, had I not been keep in one piece by the golden alloy.

—S-sempai, your hair... —Morga said, covering his mouth.

—Ah... I'm so sorry!! —Goshe said, starting to "cry" and bowing his head.

I touched the back of my head. The ponytail was gone. There was also a graze on my neck. Had I been a bit slower, I might had lost my head again. I didn't mentioned this to anyone. Instead, I tried to cheer up Goshe and Morga, and told them that it wasn't their fault. I also apologized to Cairn about losing yet another piece of his precious Lapis, which he took surprisingly well and only verbally chewed me for a couple of minutes instead of half an hour. We all went back to home after retrieving the spear before it sunk again in the frozen ocean.

—Were they... really trying to communicate with us? —Cairn murmured, as we walked a bit behind everyone else.

—I think so, but why? Why now?

Neither of us knew the answer, it was just another mystery to add to the list. We didn't know then that we wouldn't have to wait too much for it to be answered.