QuiteTheSlacker
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[The Distinguished Mr. Rose] Chapter 49: Rest Now, and Go Onto Paradise
🕑 Added 2025-05-09 15:06:48 +0000 UTCLucius waited for Ogier to reply, but he appeared to be preoccupied at the moment. The man twitched and shuddered, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he let out an odd, almost bestial, growl.
“Are you alright, my good fellow?” Lucius asked, his hands neatly laid in his lap. “You seem to be a bit under the weather.”
But the Peer didn’t reply. His breathing became more ragged by the second, and soon, a carnal savagery began to emit from his shredded, gaping flesh. His muscles expanded. His veins bulged.
Well, Lucius certainly never witnessed something like this before.
“Dear, oh dear… you refuse to accept the truth.” Lucius tutted and whirled around his chair, dusted off his suit, before making for the door. This could get ugly. “And yet, you are beautiful nonetheless. You sought to embody a perfect leader that none would fault, but the burdens only accumulated with time—body after body, year after year, the chains grew tighter; but still you willingly clung to them. You chose not to acknowledge the weariness in your soul, and now it all comes crashing down. Truly, a tragedy… a beautiful, sorrowful tragedy.”
Lucius tipped his hat, and then left.
No sooner did he depart that a deafening howl rippled through the air, shaking the stone, the ground, the very foundation of the fortress with the guttural throes of a man broken to his core.
The cabin exploded, wood flying in every direction, as a deranged Ogier barreled through and flailed his shortsword out in frenzy.
Okay, this was definitely new. Lucius had seen the occasional psychotic breakdown here and there, but never to this extent. It was a unique experience for the gentleman—how exciting! He couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
>[EMERGENCY QUEST!]<
Warning! An unprecedented situation has occurred! Ogier of the Twelve Peers has, somehow, gone mad! The fortress’s defender is no longer the man you knew. He is crazed, dangerous, and will stop at nothing until every person in the vicinity has fallen before his blade. Take up arms along with the other paladins, and put the poor soul out of his misery.
Reward: 500 Cosmic Coins
Failure: Destruction of Roncevaux Fortress, and greatly decreased reputation with the Holy Empire
Ogier became so threatening that the system even devised a new quest solely to eliminate him. The man had fully succumbed: It appeared there was no bringing him back to reason now.
Soon, swarms of paladins and players alike flocked to the outside, confused by the noise. Horror flashed through their eyes as they gazed upon their former leader, his maw unhinged in a frothy spit.
But the most distraught of them all was the trembling Ruggiero. His face twisted in hurt, unwilling to acknowledge the reality before him.
“Ogier…” he muttered. “What has happened to you? I—I should have never allowed you to part alone. I should have refused even if it meant enduring your ire.”
Regret permeated his being, but this was no time for complacency. Ogier turned toward the growing masses, and he charged toward them with waving blade and rage.
“Curse it all—Balisarda!” Ruggiero leapt forth and clashed with Ogier’s blade, sparks grinding from the impact. “Please, my friend, you must stop this! I know a remnant must still dwell within you. Do not force my hand!”
But his pleas fell on deaf ears. The Ogier of now was different from yesterday’s battle. There was nothing left to hold him back, no reason to put on false airs. The man fought mindlessly and embraced the madness swelling within. He no longer shied away from death.
Ruggiero was overpowered and sent crashing back. A part of him still hadn’t fully committed to slaying his comrade; it smothered his will and weakened his blade.
The other paladins froze up in disbelief. They knew not what to do—join the battle? Flee? Here he was, the man they depended on for succor all this time, now turned against them.
It was only when Ogier slaughtered his first soul, tore them apart like the very demons they so abhorred, that realization finally dawned on the paladins. They were going to die here if the Peer wasn’t stopped.
They gripped onto their weapons with shaking hands, and surged forward. This was no subjugation; it was the mercy from all Ogier had once protected. They rushed forward to give their commander peace.
“No!” Ruggiero cried, staggering back up and coughing. “Stand back, you are no match for him!”
But the paladins did not listen. This was the only way they could thank Ogier for all he had done. Only in death would his suffering finally end, at last; and even as the man slashed and maimed, brought forth a sanguine shower, the paladins continued to carve into him, hoping that the next blow would give him the rest he desired.
The players did not participate, at first. They stood in dazed silence. Unlike the paladins, they did not have the same chivalry - the honorable self-sacrifice to risk their lives to fight a foe they once drunk and laughed with. All they did was turn their heads and curse under their breath.
Some of the less combat-oriented players tried to support the paladins with peculiar magics: healing, mending, invigorating them with otherworldly boons. But it was not enough. Ogier persisted with his massacre.
Marco, Mili, and Harper eventually reunited with Lucius. The gentleman’s three companions could only watch on as the tragic scene unfolded before them. There was no victory to be had here, even if they slew him. Everyone would lose this day.
“This is… horrible,” Harper said, her voice muffled by the hand over her mouth. “I don’t get it. I fought alongside him just a few hours ago, and he was… damnit, he wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all.”
Marco hung his head and grimaced. “Grief has a way of makin’ ya do real terrible things. I’ve seen stronger men than me wither away after a loss, so I can understand it. I don’t condone it, but I can understand.”
Mili gripped hard onto her guitar, her usual spirit all but disappeared. “Then what’re we supposed to do? Forget about helping, we can’t even go near with all those guys rushing to their deaths. This whole thing’s just damn crappy…”
Not even Ruggiero could interfere in the paladins’ tenacious assault. They succeeded in tiring Ogier, but it came at a great sacrifice: tens, now nearing a hundred deaths. And Ruggiero could only stare at it all, powerless to act.
In order to reduce the casualties, they needed to bring him away from the fortress. Lucius had the perfect idea.
He wandered over to Ruggiero and spoke to him with a proposal. “We cannot allow this to continue, my friend. The paladins’ honor is respectable, but more blood need not be shed.”
“I… I agree with you, Sir Lucius,” he said. “But how?”
The gentleman smiled. “Please, listen to me for a moment…”
Just as Ogier’s rampage began to reach its most chaotic, a shadow loomed over him from above, and there surging through the skies was the Hippogriff Express. Ruggiero commandeered the vessel while Lucius and his fellows clung to the side, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
“Now!” Lucius ordered.
The paladins momentarily ran away as the train swooped down just long enough that Marco and Harper could grab onto Ogier’s arms and whisk him away. The deranged Peer thrashed and squirmed within their grasp, Harper nearly had her neck cut off, but fortunately they needed only hold on for a second before the train ascended back up; and the two let go, sending the man hurdling up and far out beyond the walls.
He landed with a crash onto the very blackened soil where he had faced the Demon of Eyes. There was no one else around; now the party could end this themselves.
Mili charged up her guitar and sent a flurry of bolts onto him from above. Harper aided her, affixing her fire hydrant to the train and blasting the ground around him in water. The combo would’ve felled any other foe, but Ogier’s instincts were too great; he pounced across the land while avoiding every spark and electrical stream. By the time Mili and Harper exhausted themselves, he had yet to take a single blow, even whilst bloody and weakened.
“This isn’t working!” Mili yelled, clutching her heart from the strain.
“Then we must face him on foot,” Lucius replied, straightening his attire. “Sir Ruggiero, let us join hands.”
Ruggiero nodded and jumped out of the Hippogriff, along with Lucius and Marco. The three men were the only ones who could withstand Ogier’s assault now, and they landed on their feet—weapons drawn at the ready. The other two were sent back to safety much to their heated refusal. To stay would only pose an unneeded risk.
“... Ogier, I am sorry,” Ruggiero said. He brandished his greatsword with a new, resolute conviction. “Wait for me. I will put an end to your sorrow.”
Ogier lumbered forth, his steps rough and uneven. The three men quickly surrounded him and whittled his flesh away bit by bit, alternating with the other in a brutal whirlwind with no escape. Ogier could not follow them; whenever he tried to strike, a blade would stab his side. When he chased after another, he was met with crunching gauntlet.
The Peer was too agile for the Balisarda to fully strike, and so they continued to weaken him until his body was mangled and his legs slowed in sprain. Ogier never lost his ferocity once - not even now whilst covered head to toe in blood.
Lucius’s fellows were starting to wane. Marco lagged in speed compared to the other two so he withstood most of the beating, not even his recovery skill could heal all his injuries, and Ruggiero was already exhausted from slaying the Great Evil before.
Lucius himself was perfectly fine, though. And toward the finale it was he that endured the madman’s fury the most. Ogier’s stubbornness was unparalleled. Lucius blinded his eyes, severed his hands, and stabbed him who knows how many times.
However, even giants fell, eventually. The man had faltered at last; but it was not Lucius that delivered the final blow.
No, it was Ruggiero. With a pained bellow, he leapt forward, and impaled Ogier directly in the heart.
Ogier sputtered, and looked down at the hole in his chest. His delirious mania seemed to retreat for a brief second, and color returned to his face. How cruel of a joke it was that the man would regain his reason now, right on the brink of death; but perhaps that was for the better. At least he could speak with sound mind, if only for a moment.
“Ruggiero… Lucius…” he whispered. “Thank… you…”
The pitiful man bid them a sad smile, and slumped over.
Ruggiero caught his fall and, ever slowly, laid him down. Tears flowed freely from his tortured expression, and he dropped onto his knees, cupping Ogier’s hands and bowing his head.
“Rest, my friend,” he muttered. “You are free now. Go onto the embrace of our Lord, and forget your sorrows. May you prosper forevermore in paradise.”
The suns began to rise over the somber scene. It was over, but not one person celebrated. They could only hope that, wherever Ogier passed on next, it would be someplace peaceful.
>[The Emergency Quest has been completed!]<
*(NEW!) 500 Cosmic Coins
Comments
Beeees!
Another blossom, fully realized
Jonas
Thank you!
forgetfulposum
"There was no victory to be had here, even if they slayed -> slew him."
