The Wrath of an Acolyte.

So... it's not that I mind being treated like I'm different. I like being different! I'm one of a kind, baby! Accept no substitute! The value of a gem comes from its rarity, right? So why should I settle with blending into a crowd? Become one of the sheeple?
See, I'm used to standing out. Without even trying. But I'm also used to making friends without trying too.
But heree, I'm a stranger. An alien. Someone who doesn't belong. Sure, that Goldfish Knight may be a dunce, but all these stupid little things that don't really matter kept getting in the way of what might have been a flowering friendship. And that really got to me! I guess small, stupid things really are more important than people?

Here's the thing about this world: It's got designated heroes and dark lords. Who is the main character and who is the villain is as much of a natural law as gravity or the electromagnetic ****. From the day they are born, the people of this world have a distinct idea about what's right and what's wrong. Anything that deviates from that perception... Well, it simply doesn't belong.
Life's gotta be pretty easy when everything fits into their own neat little boxes, and everyone knows exactly how to treat something based on what box they fit into.
But where does someone like me fit in?
Should I try harder to fit in?

You know what?
Fuck trying to fit in!
Fuck that box!
If people can't appreciate me for who I am instead of what they want me to be... That's their problem! I'm the genuine article! If someone can't value our relationship unless I conform to whatever narrow expectations they see fit to impose, then guess what? I'm glad I was spared their 'friendship!'
I don't need the approval from some dupe to be myself!

"You there!"
I froze up. Turned around. Slowly. Then looked over my shoulder.

You know how cat girls have cat-ears, and dog girls have dog ears? The purple-haired lady before me had the wings of a white dove protruding from her temples instead of any of that. I guess that was supposed to give her an angelic look. All I could think about, though, was that a winged brain must have made its nest in her empty head, drilling holes in her skull so it can fit with its wings.
I know, I know... It's not fair to judge a stranger by their appearance. But come on! I'm expected to resist calling her 'Bird Brain'... How exactly?

With arms folded before her cuirass, she glared at me with a disapproving scowl. From her trim yet curvy torso hung a shimmering armor so heavy it might as well be made of iron ingots.
I recognized her from the Tournament. If I recall, she was from the same bracket as that Fake Assassin.
"You are the one they call Allison" I couldn't tell if that was a question or a declaration.
"Sup?" I said, turning around to meet her with a smile, "Sorry. Was just about to stretch and hit the showers. But if you're looking for a sparring partner, how about...?"
"Do not play coy with me, heretic!" She spat out, "I know who you are! My Lord has seen through your deplorable scheme! He warned me about you! About your godless ways! Your mischievous shall not work on Sanakia the Sexy-Knight!"

...Her Lord?
"Hang on... You're buddies with that Goldfish Knight?"
The expression her face scrunched into then was indescribable. Really. It's as if it tried assessing how to most appropriately portray the emotion incited by my question, but found nothing and returned a blank.
She did turn red as a tomato though.
"Y-you... DARE!? H-his name is Lord Silvester Spartano d'Artagan! And you shall address him as such!" She pointed towards me in a dramatic gesture, "Just know that my eyes are glued to you at all times, fiend! Never shall you escape the gaze of justice!"

Right...
Bird Brain it is.
"Ah. So... He told you about our little meeting, huh? Look, I've got no idea what he said, but that little spat is between him and me. All right? Just cause he's your little buddy doesn't mean you've gotta get yourself roped into an argument that's got nothing to do with you."
"Th-that... It's got everything to do with me! My Lord's honour is at stake! And he is not my buddy! He is my Lord!"
"Oh..." I scratched the back of my head, "Does that mean I can be your buddy instead?"
"Of course not! You made an enemy of my Lord! As his trusted servant, I shall henceforth dedicate myself to vanquish you and your sinister machinations! All in his name!"
I cocked my brow, "...You said something about 'justice' earlier... Right? That something you're into?"
"Indeed I did!" She declared, puffing her chest, "As a Sexy-Knight, I am a tireless champion of justice!"
"But... You let that 'Lord' of yours decide for you who is your friend or enemy? Right?"
"...Uh?"
"So, basically you already decided not to be my friend ever, right? Before you even got to know me? Just cause that's what Goldfish Knight commands?"
"...He's not a..." Bird Brain tried her little diversion, but I kept the pressure up.
"What kind of justice is that supposed to be?"
Her eyes shifted desperately around, "I am not... Th-that is..."
"I mean, it doesn't sound like justice to me."
"...Stop it!"
"So which one is it? Do you serve justice? Or do you serve that Goldfish Knight?"

"MY LORD..." She unsheathed her sword, pointing it towards me, "...IS NOT A GOLDFISH!!! RRRWUAAAHHHH!"
Bird Brain charged at me, her sword raised over her head.
She swung it at me in a wide downwards arc.
I grabbed her arm, tangling it in mine.
"UWUAAAAHHH!" Bird Brain pivoted around her center of gravity, riding her own momentum like a comet. Right to the ground. Her sword dropped from her hand, bouncing then sliding away.

So... Wanna know how I was able to so easily flip a trained knight on her back so haphazardly?
So the frick would I!
This is a world where brave warriors fighting humongous monsters is a common sight. You saw how thoroughly that Fake Assassin owned me before! And let's be honest here; that guy's not that much of a big deal.
I just stood there, dumbfounded by how this situation developed. Clearly more so than Bird Brain, judging by how she writhed on the floor.
Moaning in pain, she struggled against the weight of her own armor to get up. She tossed off her shield in an attempt to better lever herself up. When she couldn't figure out how to flip herself back onto her feet, she settled on planting her butt on the floor.

"Uh... You... You all right?" I asked.
Bird Brain looked up, pointing at me accusingly "That... That was most foul of you! Taking advantage of me when my hands were preoccupied with shields and weapons, so I could not fight back... Truly the extent of your deplorable ways knows no bounds!"
So, she used a sword to attack an unarmed gal without warning... And then calls her a cheater? Precisely because of that?
Man, and they call me a genius.

"Ah, I never looked at it that way." Instead of offering her a hand up, I just figured; sitting down sounded pretty good, so I did, "Guess I just figured if the weapon got in the way you could always drop it, and then continue without it."
"That just goes to show how much you know!" She snapped, "I will never surrender my weapon! Ever! I fight with the full **** of my conviction as a Sexy-Knight! To my last breath!"
"Oh, damn!" I exclaimed, "I had no idea there was someone with that kind of courage and fortitude when I signed up for this Tournament! Clearly this is more than I bargained for!"
Bird Brain offered me a satisfied smirk, "Hmmph. And yet I am but a mere subordinate of my Lord. If anyone can claim to be the true Champion of this event, that honour would fall on him."
"Damn! Now I really wanna see what it'd be like if the two of you faced off in the finals! See, that'd be a battle which would echo through the centuries!"
She winced, looking at me shocked and horrified, "I.... I... No! I could never resist my Lord! If it came down to it I would be compelled to concede victory to him entirely!"
"Aww, come on! I'm sure he'd understand! You owe it to everyone who arranged the Tournament; everyone who participated and everyone who observed, to exhibit the full extent of your abilities as a combatant. But most of all, you'd owe it to yourself! To test your mettle against the one you serve! Don't you think?"
She didn't answer. Slumping down, she averted her gaze. Hugging her legs, she buried her face in her knees.

...I don't think she actually has a bird-brain.
I think she's what they call a Galmon. Just like Uni!
Remember when Uni and Katey alluded to people considering Galmon as inferior beings?
Yeah...
Because of that I kinda get this nagging feeling about her relationship with her Goldfish Knight.

"Look," I patted her pauldrons, "I didn't mean what I said earlier about that d'Artagan fella. It's not fair to expect you to choose someone you're that attached to, just cause of someone you only just met."
Sanakia puffed her cheeks, folding her arms and averting her gaze.
"...Still, I gotta ask, if he makes you choose between me and him, is he really your buddy?"
"Of course not! Because he is my Lord!" She answered.
"Right. You made that crystal clear. But why though?"
"Why what?"
"Why is it that your 'Lord' is more important than your 'friend'?"
"Because..." She said, "Because... Because, because because because... Becase he is my Lord! What he says goes! He gives me somewhere I belong! He gives me... He gives me a purpose!"
I nodded contemplatively, "I see. Yeah. The world's kind of this messed up, chaotic place, and you're kinda sent off into it, one way or another. With basically no consent, and with little to no way of determining what is what. When whisking through the capricious onslaught of a world like that, it's worth clinging on to something that makes it all make sense. Your purpose, if you will. I get that. But at the same time, who's to say that your purpose can't come from the inside?"
"...From the inside?" Sanakia asked.
"Yeah." I nodded back, "I mean, I'd have to say your purpose would come from the inside either way. If serving your Lord matters it's because it matters to you. So in the end you gotta ask, what is it that matters to you?"
"M- M-my... My... My L-"
"Your Lord. Uh huh. But why does he matter to you?"
Sanakia sighed, "I don't know... Then you tell me: What is your purpose?"
"Hm... My purpose, huh? Well, if I'd have to pick, then... I'd say that the universe I live in... It's a wonderful concoction of all that there ever was. All that there could ever be. Everything that is possible will happen, given enough time. Now, it hasn't escaped the attention that among the things that can happen in my universe is... Myself! That's right! The universe permits the creation of the means to perceive itself! And that's me! That's all of us! Just for a brief moment, at least. Though really, the brightest stars are the ones that shine ever so briefly. The universe is so big. There's so much to see and discover and know... Yet our time in it is so short. I think... The best way to spend our time is to experience and understand as much of it as we can. While we have the chance. So that in the end, we can show those beyond all-there-is who might be watching... Whatever that may mean and whoever they may be, what it means to exist. What it means to be real. I'd say that is pretty much my purpose."

Sanakia stared back at me dumbfounded, "Th-that... That's... That's dumb. That's so dumb! You are so dumb!"
The Bird Brain rocked herself back and forth, until she could use the momentum to kick herself back to an upright position, "I am going back to my Lord now. Before he worries about me, and I shall have to explain that I was stuck listening to the nonsense of a buffoon!"
With that she bounced off towards the shower rooms.

And there I was, alone in the training room, left by myself once again.
You know what? Maybe calling her Bird Brain was a bit presumptive. After all, a brain with wings could take her mind anywhere it wanted, soaring freely through the skies of ideas. It wouldn't need to be shackled down by prejudice and expectation and feelings of inadequacy.
Gonna still call her that though. Not as an insult, or anything like that. More like... A wish. Or a sign of hope. I call her not by how she distinguishes herself, but what I wish to see her embrace.

So I started stretching with a smile on my face.
After all, that morning I got to experience what it was like to be called dumb.