Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Nine)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Nine: Confronting Gvardiol

For Pep Siman, the world seemed to have slowed down as he saw his teacher struck down by those electrical bolts. The Lektros Archon feared for the worst as he saw the priest covered in ashes.

“Monsignor! No!”

For Giulia, it took every bit of restraint she had to keep calm. She rushed over to the blackened Monsignor and took out her medical kit, she always made sure to have one on her. Handy, especially in a dangerous mission like this.

“He’s alive,” Giulia said to Pep. “But he’s in critical condition. We need to hurry.”

“My house is nearby,” the villager interjected. “We can bring him there.”

And with that, Mario and Giuseppe carried Monsignor Bartholomew as Giulia followed the villager to his house.

“How melodramatic,” Gvardiol quipped.

“Shut up!” Pep snapped. “Why did you do that?”

“I wasn’t aiming for the Terran. If I had hit that traitor as intended, he would have only felt some mild pain. But because I had hit a Terran, he was as good as dead,” Gvardiol explained nonchalantly.

Pep said nothing as he seethed.

And Gvardiol continued on. “This is why you shouldn’t have taken a weakling Terran to wife. Our family have spent generations creating the perfect Archon. We have made sure to only find women with the most electrical affinity. You are the result of that planning, Pep. But you are throwing that away! You are cursing our bloodline to be weak!”

“Power, that’s all you ever care about!” Pep cried. “In religion, in family. You and mother couldn’t stand one another and yet you married her because of her electrical affinity. But she got too uppity, so you killed her.”

“Who told you that?” Gvardiol asked, a hint of panic could be heard from his voice.

“Nobody, just my guess. But I’ve kept quiet about it since I thought that was the way of the world,” Pep answered.

“It is,” Gvardiol said. “The only thing that matters is power. And you must do all you can whether it be lying or killing to achieve it.”

But Pep shook his head at his father. “You’re wrong! What truly matters is truth. In our actions and in our words. I’ve always known it deep down. That’s why, I seek out the Terrans and their faith. My faith.”

Gvardiol shook his head in disgust. “I had hoped that you’ll see reason, but it appears that it won’t happen. I just have to get rid out you.”

“You are challenging me to a duel?” Pep asked.

“I am.” Gvardiol said, nodding. “You are a failed experiment. I should’ve known better than to pick a headstrong woman for a wife, but I was too drawn by her affinity. I’d just have to start over.”

Pep rolled his eyes as he did best to ignore his father’s deranged rantings. “This makes things simpler as far as I’m concerned. I accept your challenge.”

Given the amount of destruction that a Lektros duel may cause, the battle between Pep and Gvardiol could not have taken place at Colony Nine itself. Instead, it took place at a space miles away from the Colony. From there, any possible electrical attacks would most likely miss the village.

But back at Colony Nine, Giulia was tending to Monsignor Bartholomew. With her was the villager who owned the house they were in. Giulia sighed in relief when the priest was breathing steadily, she knew that it was only a matter of time before he would recover.

“How is he, Terran Lady?” the villager asked.

“My name is Giulia,” the Venetian Lieutenant said with a smile. “But he’ll be fine. Thanks be to God. He just needs some rest now.”

“Bless you, Missus Giulia,” the villager said thankfully. “But I never thought he’d do that for me.”

“He was living up to the way of Our Lord, sacrificing himself for others,” Giulia explained with admiration.

The villager was about to respond before Mario loudly entered the house.

“Lieutenant!” the ship captain called. “Pep and Mayor Gvardiol are dueling right now.”

“Let’s take a look,” Giulia said.

“But what about the Monsignor?’ Mario asked.

“He’ll be fine.”

At this point, the villager stepped towards Mario. “I’ll watch over him, don’t worry.”

Giulia smiled in appreciation. “Thank you. Let’s go. Is Giuseppe coming with us?”

“No,” Mario said, shaking his head. “The chief engineer used this duel as an opportunity to look at the colony’s engine room.”

And so, Giulia and Mario took to their respective lyonesse and went up above the village to see the duel.

As the two Terrans arrived, the duel was already ongoing.

Pep threw electrical bolts at Gvardiol but his father was able to dodge them. The mayor fired his own bolts, but Pep generated a shield to absorb them.

“Not bad, son.” Gvardiol sneered.

“You know you can’t win, father,” Pep said. “I am the Archon of the Lektros.”

“You forget yourself, Pep. I was once the Archon of the bih’roe race,” Gvardiol said as he launched a beam of electricity.

Pep launched his own beam of electricity to counter. Soon, the beams of the two Lektros began to go back and forth. The contesting beams then exploded, obscuring the battlefield.

But Pep did not stop. He used this explosion as a cover as he launched himself towards Gvardiol.

The mayor of Colony Nine was caught off guard as Pep was soon near him. Pep powered his fists with electricity and punched Gvardiol three times before he blasted him down with an electric beam.

Gvardiol recovered, but it was clear that he was tired. As for Pep, he was fresh as if he was not even in a battle.

“Give it up, father! Your age had caught up with you,” Pep cried.

But Gvardiol was not perturbed, he gave an evil grin. “I’m not done yet.”

The mayor of Colony Nine then took out what looked to be a vial. Pep gasped when he saw what his father was holding.

“No…”

“Do you know what this is, Pep?”

“It’s an ancestral vial,” Pep stated. “Do you wish to use the power of one dead person to help you?”

Gvardiol grinned. “Not just one, all of them. While you were out gallivanting with your Terran whore, I have studied the dark arts lost to our people. In fact, I’ve spent much of my time in our colony’s mausoleum. They contain so much essence.”

“You’ve been desecrating our dead!?” Pep asked in shock.

“Call it what you want,” Gvardiol responded. “I mixed all of their essences in one vial. I’ve been keeping it with me, thought it might come in handy.”

“You’re insane,” Pep said flatly.

But Gvardiol was unperturbed as he took out the vial and drank its content. A glowing blue aura was all around him now. He began cackling maniacally as the power of his dead ancestors flowed throughout his body.

“Can you handle the weight, my son? The essences of those who had gone before us. These are our ancestors, those whose ways you turn back upon!”

Gvardiol then generated a large ball of electricity; it was easily the size of a Stonewall Tank. And then he launched it at Pep.

The force behind the attack was such that Pep was pushed back by it. As Pep was struggling to keep it at bay, he could hear Giulia’s scream.

But Pep smiled, he knew that his wife’s concerns to be misplaced.

“I can, and I will.”

The Lektros Archon gathered all of the power in his body and charged himself. With that power, he deflected the huge ball of electricity upwards. He knew that no Lektros colony would be hit by that electro-ball.

“What?” Gvardiol cried in surprise.

“But not in my own name do I fight.”

With that said, Pep then made the sign of the Cross. The Archon then launched a large beam of electricity and launched in at Gvardiol.

Gvardiol attempted to hold Pep’s attacks at bay, but he couldn’t and was soon engulfed by it.

Pep looked to where his father was. Surely, he had won.

But not quite.

The Archon saw his father was yet alive, though heavily injured. Black marks was all over his body, the wounds of electric attacks. But more importantly, he was angry.

“You have not won, my son,” Gvardiol hissed. He then aimed one of his hands at Colony Nine.

“What are you doing?” Pep asked in panic.

“There’s no way I can defeat you now. But I can make it hurt. I would go for your little wife but her lyonesse is far too quick for this. So instead, I’ll just take out your home and your teacher,” Gvardiol answered.

“If you do this, you’ll forfeit the duel,” Pep cried. The Lektros Archon only said this out of desperation, for he knew that his father most likely wouldn’t care about it.

“Bah!” Gvardiol cried. “Say goodbye to Colony Nine, Pep.”

The mayor then generated the largest electrical storm that he could and began launching it at Colony Nine.

Pep then launched his strongest electric blast at his father. Gvardiol became engulfed by the beam and soon there was nothing left of him but ashes. Ashes that fell to the storms below.

But the storm that Gvardiol produced had remained and the electrical blast did nothing to dissipate it. In fact, it only made it stronger. Pep knew that there was nothing he could do to stop that storm. Blasting it with his own electric attack would only push it towards the village. The Archon looked on in despair as the electrical storm approached Colony Nine.

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