Tale of Love || Male Kris x Female Ralsei || Kralsei

Chapter 23 - Defeated at last

Card Castle

?????????????? Floor

Ralsei's POV

Susie kept trying to awake Kris after he fell on the floor. I got very worried when he fell. It was so sudden and he seemed sick! I just hoped he was okay.

"What the heck was that!?" Susie turned to me.

"I... I don't know, Susie." I replied just as confused. Was this something that happens to lightners a lot?

We both stared at his unconscious body until I remembered something.

"Wait, I have an idea! I will try to cast a spell." I focused my energy and tried to heal Kris in hopes you would wake up. I cast a weaker version of Heal Prayer on him and waited to see the results.

Nothing happened. Kris remained unconscious on the floor.

"It did nothing???" Susie stared.

"He's not hurt?... I don't know why he fell like that then..." I was overwhelmed with sadness. Was he... Dead? No... I couldn't believe that. It had to be something else. 

Out of nowhere, Kris's hand started trembling. His whole body started to shiver and he groaned a little. Then just as suddenly, he desperately grasped for air and got up.

"Kris!" I immediately hugged him. "Are you okay? You got us worried sick there!"

Although he was awake, Kris seemed to be in shock for some reason. He was breathing heavily and he seemed confused about where he was or what was happening. I also noticed he wasn't hugging me back, which increased my worries.

"Are you injured?" I asked him. He shook his head without making eye contact and awkwardly getting up. "You seem a bit... clumsy. Maybe you could rest here while I and Susie go check the cell. You know, so you get better quickly!" I smiled and tried to suggest something to help Kris. 

"Let's just go already." Susie insisted before Kris even had the time to react to my suggestion. She pushed us aside and entered the cell.

"Wait for us, Susie!" I ran to the door but something grabbed my hand. I turned around and Kris was grabbing it while looking down. "H-huh?" He didn't say anything but I felt as if he was uncertain about something. "Aww... Kris. Did you have a nightmare? You don't need to be worried about it! We are always here for you." I smiled kindly hoping my words could calm him down. "Now, let's go before Susie kills anyone."

He let go of my hand, still looking uneasy and we both entered the cell. Inside, a blue jester was floating above the ground. The jester just stared at us with a creepy grin and didn't say anything. Then suddenly, I felt someone pushing me and I was thrown to the floor. I opened my eyes to see a sickle stuck onto the floor where I was standing before. I widened in fear, realizing I could have died right there.  Then, I saw a hand pulling me back up. It was Kris's. Two more sickles were close to the other. Kris and Susie seemed to have dodged it, to my relief. Before I could understand exactly what was going on, the carrousel started moving and we were suddenly in a battle. 

*in case you'd like to hear it again*

The Jester started laughing crazily and throwing projectiles left and right. Kris seemed to be nervous but managed to escape without a single hit. He then told us we needed to make him dizzy so we could pacify him. I wasn't sure why but there was no time to question it.  He continued to throw spades and hearts but aiming them at me. They were so many that I got hit a lot and my health got low. I could feel my body weakening from the pain. My vision started to get blurry as well. 

Kris seemed to notice so he told me to shield the next turn while he tried to heal me with an item. However, before he could do that, Jevil threw one last spade that hit my left leg. I fell to my knees and couldn't get up. As my consciousness drifted away, I fell to the floor.

S... Sorry...

The sounds of projectiles being thrown echoed through the room as I was unable to move. One of them hit Susie, as she groaned from the blow. I felt a bit useless for not being able to help at that moment.

Not much time after, Kris used a revive mint on me. I got up quickly.

How is Jevil so strong...?  I barely got hit and it was enough to strike me down...

I was starting to worry so I tried to boost everyone's morale. I told them it wasn't impossible despite Jevil's strength. Susie ignored me as usual but to my surprise, Kris also didn't say anything. He usually reacted at least... I tried not to stress it too much.

"NU-HA! I NEVER HAD SUCH FUN!" He summoned four sickles that moved around in a square formation and then sliced the interior altogether. Luckily for us, Kris managed to avoid getting his soul sliced. "IT'S SO EXCITING... I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Jevil mocked us, still laughing. Kris groaned and held the sword more tightly. The way Jevil enjoyed our pain was sickening.

We continued defending and gathering TP until we had enough to hypnotize Jevil. It seemed to be working. Despite this, Jevil's chaos wasn't stopping but instead being more chaotic, while our item supply was only getting smaller.

"KIDDING! HERE'S MY FINAL CHAOS!" He teleported away.

We prepared for the "chaos" but what Jevil prepared was beyond anything we expected. White boxes fell from the ceiling which exploded in hearts, spades, and small bullets, all being shot everywhere on the small circus. It seemed impossible to avoid and so Kris' soul got hit twice, making everyone damaged. As if it wasn't bad enough, Jevil then metamorphosed into a sickle and disappeared. Sickles started to fall from above as if this cage had no ceiling and it was just a black void. They dropped in waves continuously and each time one touched the floor, a white beam would appear where it fell. Before we could even sigh of relief, a giant sickle knife was above all others and slowly coming to crush us. I watched, widening, as there was no way Kris could dodge it. I closed my eyes, frightened, and waited for the worse. 

Everything went white and...

Nothing happened.

I uncertainly looked at Kris and Susie and they seemed just as confused. 

Jevil seemed tired so Kris immediately took advantage of the situation and told us to hypnotize Jevil. I chanted something and Jevil got petrified in place. The carousel stopped moving and we dropped our battle positions, speechless.

"WHAT FUN! I'M EXHAUSTED!!! YOU KIDS TIRED ME UP!!" The jester said. His body started fading away. "NOW I WILL SLEEP FOR THE OTHER 100 YEARS. UNFORTUNATELY, YOU KIDS CANNOT HAVE SUCH A PLEASANT DREAM. FROM NOW, A NIGHTMARE WILL AWAKEN IN YOUR HEARTS. IN THE SHADOW OF THE KNIGHT'S HAND... LIGHTNERS, CAN YOU STOP IT?" Jevil got serious for a moment. His words scared me. "UEE HEE HEE! EITHER WAY, A MISCHIEF-MISCHIEF, A CHAOS-CHAOS...! LIGHTNERS! FROM INSIDE YOUR LITTLE CELL!! TAKE THIS AND DO YOUR STRONGEST--!"

Jevil transformed into the Devilsknife once again and gave us "JEVILSTAIL". 

We all stayed silent after that and exited the cursed cell.

Jevil's words echoed in my head.

The knight...

Words: 1227

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There was a purpose by writing his fight twice.