Headed by a Snake

Athena thrust her good arm forward, offering a half-emptied healing potion, "Want the rest? I managed to stop the bleeding..."

Tanamar propped himself up, lying beside her with his back on the hard steps, "Nah. I used mine. I'll be alright."

"You look terrible, Tanamar," She giggled lightly before downing the bottle's contents.

"I'm not the one who almost got her arm cut off," Tanamar laughed to himself.

"Yeah, well... You could only beat Tancred because I attacked him first," She smirked.

That was... incredibly wrong. Still, Tanamar didn't feel like correcting her, "Yeah. I could only win because of you..."

The sounds of fighting elsewhere in the city had seemed to calm down. They were left with the peaceful crackling of the Head Magistrate's residence, the symbol of Caeruleum's power, wholly engulfed in flame.

Athena stared up at the smoky sky... "Hey, Tanamar..."

"Yeah?"

"It's over, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, it is..." Tanamar nodded.

"We... we just have to go tell Sir Tycon the good news..."

"Yeah. We do."

The corner of Athena's mouth curved upward... like it took all of her effort to do so, "I'm... so glad..."

Tanamar cursed himself quietly for lying. The city still needed to be purged... and Antonidus was still alive. The leader of Caeruleum undoubtedly had hands as dirty as Tancred's.

Suddenly, Tanamar felt his anger spike. He remembered seeing the two bastards meet with each other after the Martial Tournament. If only he'd noticed it back then, he could have killed them both... It would have saved them all a lot of trouble.

"Hey... Tanamar..." Athena whispered.

...Tanamar furrowed his brows, his anger drained in an instant. Something had changed.

"Y... yeah?"

"I love you... You know that, right?"

"...I love you too, Athena," Tanamar sat up, worry blossoming in his heart, "What's... this about?"

Athena sighed... "I wanted to make sure you knew."

"I knew..." Tanamar raised his voice... "I've always known."

"Yeah," Athena rolled her eyes. "You've always been smarter than me... but..."

"But?"

"I'm... I'm not sure," Athena's voice cracked... "if it matters, this time..."

"Athena? Athena!!" Tanamar scrambled over to her, "What's wrong?"

Tears were streaming down Athena's face, "My... my left hand..."

Carefully... but quickly, Tanamar removed the leather glove.

Her skin had grown white... smooth, polished white... immobile... stone.

Tanamar looked up to meet her eyes, "What... what's going on?"

"Tancred... He... he used... a Skill," Athena sobbed, her words interspersed with pained hics... "He called it... ⌈Petrifying Cloud⌋."

Tanamar's heart shook. It was one of Divine Armor Orcus' abilities... the strongest Skill belonging to Pontius' Sandstone Reaver Class.

"No... no... not again..." He shouted, "I promised to protect you, Athena! It hasn't changed! That'll NEVER CHANGE!!"

He got to his knees and began to beg, "Stay with me, Athena... Just... just hold on. The Holy Magus-- he can cure your condition. I'll tear his heart outta his chest if he DARES refuse!!"

Athena smiled... She was dying, but still, she smiled.

"Tanamar... you can't fall in love with anyone else."

Tanamar grabbed onto her other hand... It was rigid... also frozen in stone. Peeking out of her armor, the bottom of her neck was beginning to change color, too.

"I won't, Athena," He declared. "I've always been in love with you... and no one else... for literal lifetimes before this one."

"Good," Athena sighed. "I'll... I'll be jealous otherwise. You have... you have to be miserable without me."

"It's not over, Athena," Tanamar urged. "Keep your mana circulating. Hold off as long as you can."

"It's... already too late," She shook her head. "I... I love you... Tan..."

"ATHANASIUS!!!"

A piercing shout caused Tanamar to turn towards it. In an instant he was on his feet, holy lance in hand.

It was Tycon.

...The anomaly.

And he'd arrived too late...

"Plan's changed, Tycon!" Tanamar shouted, "I need to have a little chat with the Head Magistrate."

"Hah, really?" Tycon tilted his white-helmed head up, as if he was rolling his eyes, "Are you thinking of switching sides, this late in the siege?"

"If I have to," Tanamar spat.

Tycon halted his steps, ten paces away... "That was certainly not the answer I expected...

"Boxtholomaeus," He snapped his fingers, "execute Plan B."

Tanamar furrowed his brows as turned his head... where he saw the wooden doll, Boxy, halfway through with sticking the petrified Athena in his mouth.

"What the HELLS are you doing?!?" Tanamar yelled.

"I'm 'erribry sorry, hir!" Boxy responded before swallowing, "I'm only following orders!"

Tanamar heard the sound of something big-- something heavy moving through the air at him. He turned back to Tycon and stabbed his radiant spearpoint into it...

Tycon had... thrown a greataxe at him?

The weapon shattered, greenish mana dust scattering all around him... The distraction had allowed Boxy to escape, retreating to safety besides Tycon.

"Huh," The Tactician tilted his head. "I expected a violent explosion. Whatever you did to the Spinal Reaper drained the rest of its mana..."

"You..." Tanamar stared back in disbelief... "You just tried... to kill me?"

"Yes, I did," Tycon chuckled. "That was for lying to me about still being Iron-Rank. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

The white-helmed Tactician lazily stretched his arms, "I cut off your brother's head, by the way-- I wanted to be thorough. No need to thank me."

Tanamar grit his teeth and tightened the grip on his lance, "You. just. tried. to kill. me..."

"Yes, I literally *just* confirmed that," Tycon shook his head, "Now, as I'm assuming you were joking about joining the Snake Cult, let's share information."

Tanamar didn't know where the strength came from... but as his anger rose, his mana circulated twice as clear... thrice as fast... enough that his entire body glowed in radiant power.

"Give... her... back," He growled. "Now."

Tycon crossed his arms, "What are you going on about? Miss Athena is afflicted by petrification. That's not something you can fix."

Tanamar pointed his spear forward, "When I present your head to Antonidus, he'll give me anything I want."