危機一髪 // Critical Moment, リーダー// Leader (Gensui - fic)
危機一髪 // Critical Moment for Gensui 108 Themes #44
Disclaimer: Konami’s
Characters: Kyril, Andarc, HeroIV, Kika
Timeline: Rhapsodia (Suikoden Tactics)
“Argh!”
He recognized the voice.
Kyril turned around. “Andarc!”
A water dragon had landed a final blow to Andarc, putting Andarc in a condition where he was not available for another round of fight. Andarc eyes watched Kyril for a while, asking for a permission to retreat. Kyril’s golden eyes did not giving Andarc with an answer. They were giving Andarc more doubt.
Finally, Andarc took his sight away from Kyril and retreated. From the entrance of the Flowing Chamber, Kyril could hear Yu giving orders to Carrie to fetch the newest wounded from the current fight.
Kyril was confused, shocked. Andarc was a lightning elemental magician. He never thought that the older man would be wounded, even pushed to retreat in a battle of Flowing Chamber.
He counted that with Andarc retreating, his side was left with few people, including Ornela, Kika, and the leader from the last Island Nations battle. None of them were in the best of condition to fight. Even Ornela was gasping for air to breathe. All the magicians had retreated several turns before Andarc, and that left the current party with no healers and healing items.
He had considered switching one of the remaining fighters with Yu or Carrie, but that would be a minus to the offense, since there were still two water dragons and several other monsters, including two water spirits.
Kyril, himself, was not in his strongest state. He was a fire-elemental fighter. A water-elemental had passed by and changed the comfortable fire field he had been standing into a water field. He was itching to give the monster a nice and painful deathblow, but it was to far from his reach. Not far from him was a skeleton archer who when its turn came, it would give an attack for him… and avoiding the up-coming attack was unlikely. Oh, he wished to wear a Godspeed Anklet (plus a speed ring) at a time like this. At least, it would take his turn to come faster, and he would have moved away from them and make a nice and wide fire elemental field for himself.
But no. He couldn’t switch anyone with Yu or Carrie, or any other supporting fighters. He didn’t wear any Godspeed Anklet. Plus… he and his team were suffering.
He just couldn’t give up. He wouldn’t.
He needed to be strong.
He remembered when he had to force his team to pull back from the last fight at the Imperial City of Graska. He saw, no, He could imagine Iskas was smirking at Kyril’s defeat, at his weakness. Kyril himself could still imagine how Corselia cried at his father’s new… arrghhh…
It made Kyril remembered the time when the Evil Eye did the same thing to his father. It took a long time for Kyril to stand back and be what he was right now. It took more tears and pain for realization and knowing the truth after that… and someone now was using the Evil Eye for himself. That someone was laughing at Kyril’s incapacity.
He couldn’t just retreat right now. He couldn’t go back to the entrance of the ruins and go back down to the Flowing Chamber again. It would take too much time… while he didn’t have anymore time…
“Arrghh!”
Another voice.
It took Kyril away from his own thinking. He then realized that Ornela had made a decision to retreat after a critical blow from a water spirit. She didn’t even ask for Kyril’s permission to leave. She had already known that she wouldn’t receive any.
It was getting tougher.
“Pull back, Kyril!”
Kyril turned his head to the voice. Kika was watching him with a determined glare.
“We will kill ourselves if we stay here for anymore turn.” Her voice was not shaking, although her body was, because of exhaustion.
“But---!”
“Kyril.” A call for his name stopped him from saying anything. Kyril’s eyes moved to the leader of the war of the Islands Nations. His bluish eyes were calm as always. He smiled. “It’s time for us to retreat.”
“He’s right.”
Kyril bit his lip. He tried not to remember Iskas’ smirking face when he took an escape talisman from his pocket.
***
リーダー// Leader for Gensui 108 Themes #32
Disclaimer: Konami's
Characters: Kyril, HeroIV
Timeline: Rhapsodia, after Critical Moment
Kyril tried to regret it, but every time he looked as his hands he felt weakness. He took a deep breath and sent his back to a softness of a bed he hadn’t felt for a while.
Yohn was sitting, watching him from a chair not far from him. She was serene and composed, as usual. She offered him what he took as a comforting glance. Kyril could only smile sadly.
A knock came to the door.
“It’s me.” His voice. The same voice who asked him to retreat earlier in the afternoon. The least person he wanted to talk to right now. “King Lino just send me a giant crab to my room. Do you want to join me in dinner?”
Kyril looked at Yohn, asking for a help, preferably to send the boy away from his room. But Yohn just shooed Kyril, as if she was supporting the other man’s idea of having a dinner of giant crab.
***
King Lino seemed to appreciate the former war’s hero very much. It was proved from the size and contents of the room he was sleeping in, and the dinner the king had presented to him. It was not only a giant crab, but roast beef, soup, buns, and some food that would take ten more adults to finish.
“Take a seat.”
Kyril obeyed and sit on one of the chairs.
“Eat.” The other boy smiled as he said that.
Kyril blinked. “Huh? All of these?”
“Of course. You needed more than I do.” He then added. “Believe me.”
“I… am not in a mood for eating…”
The boy raised his eyebrows.
“I… don’t feel like eating… I… I…” Kyril’s words met silence for a while. “I hate retreating… I don’t like being a weak leader… I… I need to be strong.”
“Being a good leader doesn’t mean to be strong in physical strength.”
“But they’re counting on me! Corselia was asking me to help her! I offered him help! I promised almost everybody to destroy the Evil Eye! How can I fulfill their hopes if I am weak?”
“So you prefer to sacrifice their lives in order to fulfill their hopes?” The bearer of Rune of Punishment asked back.
“What?”
“What’s the use of fulfilling the hopes of the man who die?” He put another question in front of Kyril’s plate. “Iskas would be happier to know if you lost half of your allies before coming to him.”
Kyril didn’t answer. His head ducked, eyes seeing the sweating palms sitting on his lap.
“A good leader is,” Kyril raised his head and looked at the other boy when the later said it, “a leader who knows when is the time to attack, and when to retreat. Somebody who sacrifices himself, not sacrificing the whole army; who act for the sake of his people, not for winning a battle.”
Kyril drowned into silence, trying to absorb what the former hero had said.
“Let us think while eating. The poor crab is waiting for us to eat it while it’s still hot,” the boy broke the silence, eagerly taking everything that his plate could hold.
“Do you…” Kyril started the conversation again after the late leader had taken the third round of food in the last five minutes of silence. “Have you ever retreated in the last battle?”
The other boy smiled. “Countless times, Kyril. Mitsuba smacked me every time I did.”
Disclaimer: Konami’s
Characters: Kyril, Andarc, HeroIV, Kika
Timeline: Rhapsodia (Suikoden Tactics)
“Argh!”
He recognized the voice.
Kyril turned around. “Andarc!”
A water dragon had landed a final blow to Andarc, putting Andarc in a condition where he was not available for another round of fight. Andarc eyes watched Kyril for a while, asking for a permission to retreat. Kyril’s golden eyes did not giving Andarc with an answer. They were giving Andarc more doubt.
Finally, Andarc took his sight away from Kyril and retreated. From the entrance of the Flowing Chamber, Kyril could hear Yu giving orders to Carrie to fetch the newest wounded from the current fight.
Kyril was confused, shocked. Andarc was a lightning elemental magician. He never thought that the older man would be wounded, even pushed to retreat in a battle of Flowing Chamber.
He counted that with Andarc retreating, his side was left with few people, including Ornela, Kika, and the leader from the last Island Nations battle. None of them were in the best of condition to fight. Even Ornela was gasping for air to breathe. All the magicians had retreated several turns before Andarc, and that left the current party with no healers and healing items.
He had considered switching one of the remaining fighters with Yu or Carrie, but that would be a minus to the offense, since there were still two water dragons and several other monsters, including two water spirits.
Kyril, himself, was not in his strongest state. He was a fire-elemental fighter. A water-elemental had passed by and changed the comfortable fire field he had been standing into a water field. He was itching to give the monster a nice and painful deathblow, but it was to far from his reach. Not far from him was a skeleton archer who when its turn came, it would give an attack for him… and avoiding the up-coming attack was unlikely. Oh, he wished to wear a Godspeed Anklet (plus a speed ring) at a time like this. At least, it would take his turn to come faster, and he would have moved away from them and make a nice and wide fire elemental field for himself.
But no. He couldn’t switch anyone with Yu or Carrie, or any other supporting fighters. He didn’t wear any Godspeed Anklet. Plus… he and his team were suffering.
He just couldn’t give up. He wouldn’t.
He needed to be strong.
He remembered when he had to force his team to pull back from the last fight at the Imperial City of Graska. He saw, no, He could imagine Iskas was smirking at Kyril’s defeat, at his weakness. Kyril himself could still imagine how Corselia cried at his father’s new… arrghhh…
It made Kyril remembered the time when the Evil Eye did the same thing to his father. It took a long time for Kyril to stand back and be what he was right now. It took more tears and pain for realization and knowing the truth after that… and someone now was using the Evil Eye for himself. That someone was laughing at Kyril’s incapacity.
He couldn’t just retreat right now. He couldn’t go back to the entrance of the ruins and go back down to the Flowing Chamber again. It would take too much time… while he didn’t have anymore time…
“Arrghh!”
Another voice.
It took Kyril away from his own thinking. He then realized that Ornela had made a decision to retreat after a critical blow from a water spirit. She didn’t even ask for Kyril’s permission to leave. She had already known that she wouldn’t receive any.
It was getting tougher.
“Pull back, Kyril!”
Kyril turned his head to the voice. Kika was watching him with a determined glare.
“We will kill ourselves if we stay here for anymore turn.” Her voice was not shaking, although her body was, because of exhaustion.
“But---!”
“Kyril.” A call for his name stopped him from saying anything. Kyril’s eyes moved to the leader of the war of the Islands Nations. His bluish eyes were calm as always. He smiled. “It’s time for us to retreat.”
“He’s right.”
Kyril bit his lip. He tried not to remember Iskas’ smirking face when he took an escape talisman from his pocket.
***
リーダー// Leader for Gensui 108 Themes #32
Disclaimer: Konami's
Characters: Kyril, HeroIV
Timeline: Rhapsodia, after Critical Moment
Kyril tried to regret it, but every time he looked as his hands he felt weakness. He took a deep breath and sent his back to a softness of a bed he hadn’t felt for a while.
Yohn was sitting, watching him from a chair not far from him. She was serene and composed, as usual. She offered him what he took as a comforting glance. Kyril could only smile sadly.
A knock came to the door.
“It’s me.” His voice. The same voice who asked him to retreat earlier in the afternoon. The least person he wanted to talk to right now. “King Lino just send me a giant crab to my room. Do you want to join me in dinner?”
Kyril looked at Yohn, asking for a help, preferably to send the boy away from his room. But Yohn just shooed Kyril, as if she was supporting the other man’s idea of having a dinner of giant crab.
***
King Lino seemed to appreciate the former war’s hero very much. It was proved from the size and contents of the room he was sleeping in, and the dinner the king had presented to him. It was not only a giant crab, but roast beef, soup, buns, and some food that would take ten more adults to finish.
“Take a seat.”
Kyril obeyed and sit on one of the chairs.
“Eat.” The other boy smiled as he said that.
Kyril blinked. “Huh? All of these?”
“Of course. You needed more than I do.” He then added. “Believe me.”
“I… am not in a mood for eating…”
The boy raised his eyebrows.
“I… don’t feel like eating… I… I…” Kyril’s words met silence for a while. “I hate retreating… I don’t like being a weak leader… I… I need to be strong.”
“Being a good leader doesn’t mean to be strong in physical strength.”
“But they’re counting on me! Corselia was asking me to help her! I offered him help! I promised almost everybody to destroy the Evil Eye! How can I fulfill their hopes if I am weak?”
“So you prefer to sacrifice their lives in order to fulfill their hopes?” The bearer of Rune of Punishment asked back.
“What?”
“What’s the use of fulfilling the hopes of the man who die?” He put another question in front of Kyril’s plate. “Iskas would be happier to know if you lost half of your allies before coming to him.”
Kyril didn’t answer. His head ducked, eyes seeing the sweating palms sitting on his lap.
“A good leader is,” Kyril raised his head and looked at the other boy when the later said it, “a leader who knows when is the time to attack, and when to retreat. Somebody who sacrifices himself, not sacrificing the whole army; who act for the sake of his people, not for winning a battle.”
Kyril drowned into silence, trying to absorb what the former hero had said.
“Let us think while eating. The poor crab is waiting for us to eat it while it’s still hot,” the boy broke the silence, eagerly taking everything that his plate could hold.
“Do you…” Kyril started the conversation again after the late leader had taken the third round of food in the last five minutes of silence. “Have you ever retreated in the last battle?”
The other boy smiled. “Countless times, Kyril. Mitsuba smacked me every time I did.”