Meanwhile, in the deepest chamber of the Temple, the intruder struck through the last of the constructs guarding the lone prison cell, letting the empty shells release their hearts. She pointed her blades at the knight guarding the cell, ready to command the release of the prisoner, but then suddenly Junithal’s hammer flung through the air, slamming into the ground next to her before it returned to him.
"Alinara... The stolen child of crystal. I knew you'd come eventually with our finely placed bait."
Ardeth arrived soon afterward, and once again instinctively held out his arm to keep Wilhelmina back. He’d heard that accursed name Junithal had mentioned upon confronting their foe, and part of Ardeth had sincerely hoped that it wasn’t the same person he thought it was.
But fate would not grant him that comfort today. The intruder accosting the guard of the final cell, the murderer who’d desecrated this temple and slaughtered its priests and guardians in cold blood, was indeed Alinara Duskblade. The memories quickly resurfaced of her attack in Traverse Town, her shameless worship of evil and denouncing good as the true evil, and her cruel mistreatment of Riku in his hour of need...
Alinara kept a blade pointed in both directions, slowly backing her way to a wall. She gripped her blades tightly, trying to think of how she'd get her way out of this.
What Alinara did in Traverse Town was bad enough in and of itself, but Ardeth never would have thought that her fanatical worship of evil could reach such a degree, that she could dare to call Riku and his comrades "murderers" and "persecutors" when she herself had no qualms with slaughtering so many in cold blood. Even now, instead of showing some hint of remorse for what she'd done or at least trying to explain herself, she was trying to plan her escape.
Ardeth didn't let her. As a warning, Ardeth drew his Medjai sword in one hand and summoned his Keyblade in the other, pointing the former at Alinara, but keeping the latter aimed at the prisoner in the cell in case the prisoner made any attempt to attack or manipulate him. Until now, mostly at the suggestion of Riku and the others, Ardeth had tried to give Alinara some benefit of the doubt. But it was clear now that Alinara deserved no such courtesy, and Ardeth would not waste another ounce of sympathy on this treacherous witch.
Junithal, meanwhile, continued down the steps, glancing at the warriors behind him. "I have a task for you. Help me to kill the dark warrior. Once the final warrior is destroyed there will only be the Flood of Light left. The eradication of Darkness."
Junithal's request was unusual for one so dedicated to the light, briefly snapping Ardeth out of his fury. How could killing someone - even someone as clearly guilty as Alinara was - bring about the kind of golden age Junithal was describing? Ardeth wondered if perhaps the sense of pure darkness in this place might be affecting Junithal somehow, or if either Alinara or the prisoner - if not both - might be somehow manipulating him, thereby crippling the light by corrupting one of its most loyal servants.
“Seal the chamber. They must not escape.” Ardeth said quietly to Wilhelmina, sparing her a calm glance. He would not kill Alinara as Junithal requested; as much as he wanted to see Alinara pay for everything she'd done, to kill her without it being absolutely necessary would make them no better than the darkness itself. But Ardeth would still see her judged and punished by the people of this city, for only they truly had the right to seek justice for the desecration of their temple and the brutal murder of its inhabitants.
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