"Well, that's for certain. The question is-- how?" Gardner replied coyly, crossing his massive arms over each other. The two stared into the distance at the figure standing atop the massive ash pillar at the edge of the labyrinth, gazing down at them adamantly.
"Well, how else do you stab him? We'll just... kill him." Artemis shrugged.
"But defeating Fog Lord Maccharia won't be as simple as killing him. The Fog Lords are an extension of the Fog King's soul. They can summon him to them at will. That's why it took me a century to get over here. They're just too difficult to fight, because they always summon that bastard immediately."
If the Fog King was the figure wearing a mask of human amalgamations, and the Lords were the faceless beings surrounding him, then just how powerful could they be by themselves? He had seen the destructive force that the Fog King had inside of his Inner World, and he had seen the might of the Fog Lords in the forming of the labyrinth...
Wasn't there some sort of method here that he could apply to save Leon from her predicament?
That's right! The Fog King was already currently embroiled in a battle. If that vision of his was true, then Leon was battling against the Fog King!
"Gardner, can the Fog King fight in two places at once?"
"Not personally. I think if he had to, he would send all of his Lords there, and then go to the other place himself."
If he's in my Inner World, or some aspect of it, fighting against Leon, then it would make sense that his underlings, these Fog Lords, are wreaking havoc in the Cradle...
...so did he leave shortly after I saw him in the labyrinth, being greeted by his faceless Lords? Strange...
"Then I think we can fight Fog Lord Maccharia head-on." He used the name of the Fog Lord without thinking, grimacing.
This could become an effective gamble.
If the Fog King was indeed too preoccupied to help out the Fog Lord if they were to attack him, then there was a chance that they could defeat him. However, if the Fog King abandoned the fight with Leon to come help the Fog Lord, then Leon would be able to resurface!
Of course, then they would have to deal with the calamitous force... and Leon would likely be affected by the seal on her abilities...
Artemis set Cia gently down in the ash, taking a seat beside her. He rolled his head back and ran his hand through his hair.
"How do you plan to fight him head-on, when he'll just summon that bastard King?"
This... was indeed something he had to explain. The information that the Fog King might not come to the Lord's existence was based on the fact that Leon was fighting her. And Leon was a near-Deific being he couldn't let Gardner know of. Not only because she would be his trump card in the event that Gardner turned on him, but also because Leon was directly tied to his Boon.
And that tied directly to the fact that he supposedly hunting mythical creatures for the Creator of the Shadow, the Fated King whom Gardner had come to kill!
"Then we'll just have to trap him." Artemis spoke casually, dismissing Gardner completely. The towering figure grumbled a bit underneath his breath before slinking off in the near distance.
Suddenly, Cia stirred beside him. He glanced over at her, his hand close to her face. As he tried to move it away, she suddenly grasped it, pulling him in closer.
Her eyes fluttered open, catching the dim light of the moon which tried to break through the canopy of light-grey fog overhead. She let out a quiet yawn, propping herself up with one hand as she glanced around. While they had stopped, Artemis had draped his fur-lined cloak over her to keep her out of the cold. It drooped over her shoulders onto the ground below.
He was only inches away from her, now. He could feel her soft, hot breaths on his cheek.
After he had been 'infected' by the Fated King, at least by Gardner's words, he had begun to feel some slight sense of worry for her. It wasn't like his obligations he thought he had, like some sense of duty to protect her. More like he wished to do so.
As she opened one eye to him, studying him out of the side of her eye, he grabbed her chin and straightened her head, staring at her intently.
He studied the details of her face, looking for any marks that might have been missed, any scrapes or bruises he could wrap a bandage over. She simply sat politely as he tilted her head from side to side.
"Is this one of your many proclivities, Artemis?"
His face grew a faint-red colour, suddenly letting go of her chin and glancing away.
"I don't have proclivities..."
She rubbed the fatigue away from her eyes, frowning as she looked over at the towering red-cloaked figure in the distance.
"Who is the man over there?"
Gardner was incessantly pounding into the side of a mound of ash with his sword, slicing through it while spreading the illusory blood on its interior surface. Artemis had instructed him, at the very least, to at least make it bigger this time around...
Ah, that's right. She hasn't met Gardner with his face on, has she?
"That's Gardner Song. He's the man without a face you saw before, the one who helped take down those monsters. Supposedly, he saved you from them again, before also saving me..."
"Is that really the man?" Her expression sank for a moment, before she gradually restored its calm and genial appearance, collecting herself and clearing her throat. "I should thank him."
His eyebrow twitched, sarcastically exclaiming.
"You didn't thank me when I defeated that Daemonic Knight outside of the ruins you were cowering in. I even lost an arm to do so!"
Her eyebrows smoothed out on her expression, a slight, playful smile played up.
"Would it make you jealous if I thanked him and not you?"
Artemis shook his head.
"No, not at all. I was just... merely stating the hypocrisy..."
When he looked back towards her, she had stood up, her legs shaking weakly as if she were still quite exhausted, yet she had begun to bow. Her right hand was tucked against her breast, cut and bandaged presumably by Gardner in a hurry, and her left hand was posed behind her back as she knelt her head down.
Artemis looked at her in a daze, and an awkward silence hung in the air, only interrupted periodically by the raging clangor of steel against hardened masses of ash.
"I don't- uhm, really know what to say here. Thank you for defeating that strange Knight outside of the ruins... and thank you for losing your arm in the process... and for feeding me. You've really done too much for me, far more than I can repay in a lifetime. So I... just won't."
His eyebrow twitched, crossing his arms as he looked at her in disdain.
"Wait a moment... where did you even get meat from in this place? A monster? I saw no monsters except for those that came from the fog!"
"It was me. I just... cooked my severed arm so we wouldn't starve."
"The meat you fed me... was you...?" Her widened eyes stared blankly at the floor.
"Sorry." He spoke casually, resting his head on his hand.
Her sobs echoed through the air, bawling as she hurriedly rushed away the tears that collected on her eyelids before spilling towards her cheeks.
"Ah, I'm sorry-! I just didn't think you would-"
"I can't-!" She sobbed. "I can't erase the script! I already labeled it as monster meat! My notes are wrong now!"
Gardner glanced down at her, a beaming smile appearing on his face. "The young Lady has finally awoken! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Gardner Song, student of Lord Tristinis, Ruler of the South, and God of the bloodiest battles!"
A bit baffled, she raised her hand slowly and displayed a faint smile. "L-Lady...? My name is Cia, but I'm no Lady. Just a servant, I think..."
"You think? Have you also lost yourself?"
Artemis let out an exhausted sigh. He just couldn't deal with the shifting moods. He much preferred he was on his perimeter search about now...
"Yes, but I think after my rest, I feel a bit better now. I remember a little bit, I think... of whom I was..."
He raised an eyebrow hearing this. When he had discerned Cia's identity, she had come up as an unknown. The only other time that had happened was when he tried to discern the Nightmare in the fight near calamity.
"Ah, a servant! I was definitely a servant... a servant of a Lord!"