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Meanwhile, in the chambers of Riovanes Castle, Grand Duke Barinten had a guest that would strike fear into the hearts of those who knew his true powers. Vormav was the leader of the Shrine Knights. A stronger swordsman was hardly known in history besides Cidoflus Orlandu and Balbanes Beoulve. And the magics he wielded, granted to him by the Church, were far more powerful than any other Shrine Knight under him. One other man was with Vormav. Wiegraf. Alive, and in his human form. He stood silently by watching the proceedings.
Barinten however, was not intimidated,
"To be quite frank... Can we work together?"
"What do you mean?"
"Men with power rule Ivalice. So, who
has the power? Prince Larg of Hokuten? Or, Prince Goltana of
Nanten? Neither one of them. It's you, the Shrine Knights, who
hold the Stones......"
Vormav was surprised that Barinten had found this out. Few spies penetrated the Church, and even fewer lived more than a day once they'd done it. Barinten continued,
"Holy Stones have great magical power. According to
ancient legend, a natural disaster in Murond was caused by its
power......"
Vormav dismissed the idea that the Church had anything to do with the Stones, or that they contained any sort of power.
"Oh, my...You're saying you know nothing about it?
But you may change your mind after seeing this... Call Malak!!"
Malak enters, pushing the captive Izlude in front of him. Izlude asked Vormav for forgiveness, but Vormav merely ignored him for a moment. Barinten told Vormav that he had taken both the Holy Stones, 'Scorpio' and 'Taurus'. Vormav struck Izlude in the face, the turned to address the Grand Duke,
"What do you want?"
"As I said before, we want to help you, too."
"What if I refuse?"
"The Church's injustice will be exposed. That's all."
"You can't prove it just with the Holy Stones."
"That's true. But, how about with the 'Germonik
Scriptures'? Larg, Goltana, and the senate ought to be
interested..."
"Where are the Scriptures?"
"I can't very well tell you that can I?"
"Wiegraf, go after the wizard. I'll take care of him."
Wiegraf silently left, following Malak. The Grand Duke did not like this side step of his authority,
"Don't do anything funny! The odds are against you!"
"Odds? What do you think you weak humans can do?"
Izlude looked up at the older Shrine Knight questioningly. A lightning clap sounded outside, as Vormav continued,
"Don't underestimate us. Killing you is easy...Want to fight...? Fine. I'll show you the power of the Holy Stone!"
Vormav pulled a Holy Stone out of the pocket of his robes that he wore over his knights armor. A demonic screech filled the room as Barintens ten knights drew their swords. Each was a master swordsman, easily a match for Vormav and Izlude at the odds of five to one. But they were no match for Vormav alone, when he unleashed the power of the Holy Stone upon them....
At the gates of Riovanes Castle, Malak once again confronted Ramza and Rafa. Malak told Rafa that they could be free of Barinten once they killed Ramza and took the Germonik Scriptures. However, Rafa simply warned Ramza that he and his sister would only remain alive if Ramza held onto the Scriptures. With that she employed some of her Heaven magic and vanished. Malak, used his similar abilities to follow her. Immediately after, the gates of Riovanes opened and a severly wounded Knight stumbled out, clutching his horrible wounds,
"H...help... M...monster..."
Ramza moved to help the man, but it was too late. He had died from his many wounds.
Imprisoned in Riovanes castle after being captured by Izlude and he being captured by the Riovanes Knights, Alma thought about her brother, Ramza.
Suddenly a scream of terror broke the silence and the door to her cell was opened by a hideously maimed Knight who stumbled into her arms. Blood running from too many wounds to count, he warned her,
"R...run.... It's...dangerous..."
And with that last act of selflessness, he died. Alma cradled his body a while longer before finally working up the courage to leave her cell.
As Ramza made his way through the corridors of Riovanes castle he was greeted by the sight of Knights mutilated bodies thrown about like ragdolls. Upon entering the main hall, he was greeted by Wiegraf.
" There you are Ramza."
He walked slowly down the stair case towards Ramza.
"Draw your sword, Ramza."
But Ramza made no move.
"What's wrong? If you don't, I will."
Ramza finally spoke,
"How miserable you are... Giving your spirit to the Stone
just to avenge yourself. If Miluda knew about this, she'd be
very disappointed."
Wiegraf was amused,
"Revenge? Ha! That's not what I'm after.... I want far
more than that. I don't give a damn about Miluda's murder. I
want to bring 'chaos' into the world...to hear the screams of
humans... But, don't worry, Ramza, I'll kill you....myself."
"The Stones are evil...and so are the 'Zodiac Braves', they're
nothing but demons! The legends we believed in were all lies!
"Hya, ha, ha. So much for 'God's miracle'. Governments
falsify history only so it favors them. But you can't blame
them. Because people always hope for a 'miracle'. Endlessly
complaining, lazy, nuisances... that's what the masses really
are. Governments give the people what they want...and history
repeats itself. Governments might well have taken advantage of
their insecurity.... But then again, people are satisfied
being used... 'God' is nothing but an image created out of
their insecurity. It's their fault for knowing they're
comfortably numb, and not doing anything about it."
"And what about you? Relying on demons instead of
compensating for your own weaknesses!"
"It's because humans are weak that they rely on fake
'miracles'. I may rely on demons, but at least that power is
real! Let me show you Ramza!"
Ramza drew his sword with lightning-speed quickness and locked blades with Wiegraf. They parted, and circled eachother warily. Occasionally Wiegraf would throw a Shrine magic at Ramza, forcing him to throw himself clear. Each time, Ramza grew more weary and wondered whether or not he would be able to win.
Wiegraf was impressed,
"You've improved..."
Calling upon his Holy Stone's power he vanished. Ramza called out to him, demanding that he come back. Wiegraf reappeared at the top of the stair case.
"Let's have it out here, Ramza."
Brandishing the Holy Stone above his head, Wiegraf transformed once again into the bull demon Velius. Just as his transformation was nearing it's finish, a familiar voice greeted Ramza.
"Somone told me you needed some assistance!"
"Agrias!"
&nb
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