A Drop of Blood

Uteu heard a heavy stomp somewhere nearby before a deep feminine voice called out, "Harkal!"

"What is this? What's happening?!" The Madame demanded frantically as she grabbed onto Harkal's arms to haul him up. She hushed him in an attempt to get him to calm down. Harkal was too hysterical to listen to her.

"No! You can't do this to me! I made you!" Harkal yelled out. His feet were fusing into the crystal even as the Madame tried to pull him away from it.

Despite all of her strength, it had no effect against whatever force the crystal was using to pull Harkal into itself.

"Shit! It wasn't supposed to be like this!" Harkal cursed further.

Welton whistled in awe as he avoided a large chunk of ice headed for his face. Uteu felt it was quite unfair that it appeared as though the resentment hadn't bothered with Welton or the Kendive.

"What on Earth did you do?" Welton asked amusedly.

Harkal cursed at Welton just as his ankles sank into the crystal.

"Fuck you! This was supposed to be perfect! I didn't waste all of these years being this bitch's plaything for nothing!"

The Madame recoiled at his words, dropping him.

"You can't mean that, darling... didn't you say that you love me? I never... I never treated you like a plaything, honest..." The Madame had said with a small voice.

Harkal ignored her, he didn't even seem to have heard her in the first place.

"I was going to show them all!" He said as he used his hands to push himself upwards. Harkal sank even faster without the Madame's support. From his feet to his thighs, they were already fully merged into the crystal.

Even like this, he swatted at the Madame's hands, refusing her help. The Madame could only watch on helplessly as Harkal sank further down.

With a grunt, Harkal turned towards Uteu and glared with everything he had.

"I was going to show all of the Drelden's! I was worth more than they could have ever believed! That they should never have thrown me away!"

Harkal spat out his words venomously and then flicked his hand and sent out gales of wind at Uteu.

Uteu, who was still fighting off the resentment's mental attacks couldn't evade in time. The gales nicked his calves, a stream of blood fell freely from his legs and onto the crystal beneath him.

As if weights were attached to him, Uteu suddenly felt as if his body felt incredibly heavy. He fell forward at the unexpected change in gravity. His hands hit the crystal and he felt his hands start to sink in.

Uteu cursed. Trust Harkal to get him dragged into this as well.

As his fingers sunk in first, he tried to wriggle them and found he was able to. Despite the heavy weight on him, he dragged out all of Harvet's abilities to the max.

His muscles and knee creaked under the pressure. He didn't let that deter him in the slightest. He only had a minute at most and he planned to use it wisely.

Dragging his hands from under the red crystal, he ran forward. He managed to kick Harkal on his way across. He ignored the way Welton guffawed at the clumsy kick and the Madame's outcry. He even ignored the gales that dug into the back on his knees, causing him to bleed more.

His arms were now submerged up to his elbows and running became a bit more difficult. With a morbid thought, he was glad that the black tendrils had gotten rid of bodies near the crystal Uti was in. It would have been difficult to maneuver around them otherwise.

Dragging his hands felt exhausting, it felt as if he were waddling through molasses. Most of the time his arms were too slow to keep up with his legs. He could feel himself tire quickly. Without any other abilities to rely on, his muscles just could not keep up.

He got as close as he could to the center crystal that Uti was in before his legs gave out on him. His ears buzzed and his legs throbbed in pain. The blood dripped freely from the back of his knees and his calves.

The crystal tower absorbed it all greedily. The black tendrils, rather than attack him, seemed to be caressing all of the spots his blood made contact with the red crystal. A fog of black ink broke free from the very center of the center crystal and floated underneath him. It was large enough to form a black circle under him.

Harvet's red energy fizzled out and he had a brief thought of locking away their chain in the room Grello's chain was in. He wasn't sure if he succeeded, but he followed his instinct anyway.

"Hahahaha-! If-- going down- I'm taking- at least two-- you!"

He could somewhat make out from Harkal's words. Uteu leaned his head against the center crystal and glanced over at Harkal. The man was now chest deep into the crystal. A black circle was also under Harkal, just like the one under Uteu. The Madame was crying beside him, holding onto one of his arms. The other arm was aiming gales of wind towards Welton, who was now dodging two attacks from two different people.

Uteu slumped down further, his shoulders were now submerged into the crystal tower. He had to rest his head against a smooth red crystal. Out of curiosity he twitched a finger and touched the black circle. It trembled but otherwise didn't move.

He wondered about the tendrils. Why had they attacked him earlier but were so tame at this moment?

Had he known, he would have given the tower his blood much sooner. Perhaps he could have somehow gotten Uti out earlier.

Or perhaps he would have just found him stuck without any way out.

He found himself making eye contact with green eyes. The Kendive, he never got the guys first name had he? The Kendive was giving him a semi-concerned look even as he attacked Welton. Behind him, a few more Association members seemed to have arrived to back him up.

"Harkal!" He heard the Madame's heart wrenching cry before he heard shuffling and fists pounding into crystal.

"No! Let me go! I refuse to let him leave me!" Someone must have been trying to get her to stop, but Uteu couldn't see them anymore. It was somewhat jarring to hear her cries. He had last seen her as an unstoppable tank.

Uteu felt sorry for her. He felt sorry that such a strong woman would become weak for such a rotten man like Harkal.

His chest and neck were now slowly submerging. He took a deep breath before his mouth and nose sank in as well.

He closed his eyes unwittingly as he dropped into the black ink below him.