Chapter 33: The Teamwork Begins
In the mansion of the Braun, an elderly couple sat on a sofa and talked, remembering their old days, when a blast came into a wall and Jan and Erik appeared. The old man, Georg Braun, gasped upon seeing Erik. He sprang up and covered his wife.
“Sandy, get back!” he took a battle pose and glared at Erik: “How come you freed yourself, fiend?!”
“Oh, I’m not free, yet!” Erik glanced at his brother: “Jan, do it!”
Jan was going to dash at Georg when an air blow came from above and pushed him back. Erik and Jan saw Tamie, Riza, Tiger, Rianna, Cherrie, and Jannah arrive and cover the elderly couple.
“Get back you monsters!” Tamie yelled. She was the one to have blown the air shot.
“Who do we have here? A newbie who thinks she’s tough?” Erik grinned.
“I’ll make you regret you interfered with our plans!” Jan was going to move forward when Erik stopped him. “Huh?”
“No need, Jan. I can deal with them myself. You take care of Lord Georg_”
“Don’t you dare touch my grandpa?!” Tiger shouted: “Virgo Style, Tamer Art, Animal Mode – Fusion!”
All of her three pets – Blizzard, Astra, and Christo – turned into their respective energy elements (the Fire for Blizzard and the Earth for the cats) and fused with Tiger’s body, making her eyes glow green with the Zen power. But Tiger didn’t count it as enough:
“Ox Spirit, Ring Five – Green Nature Ox!”
A giant green female Ox spirit covered her body and roared. Tiger got locked into its core and ran towards Erik at a full speed, making the floor shake.
“Girls, attack!” Rianna yelled: “Cancer Style, Defender Art, Medic Mode; Boar Spirit, Ring Ten – Shell Demon Boar!”
An enormous blue female Boar spirit embraced her and she too charged in the fight.
“Leo Style, Battler Art, Queen Mode! Tiger Spirit, Ring Eleven – Red Fire Tiger!” a large Red Tiger spirit roared, Cherrie in its core.
“Sagittarius Style, Singer Art, Enchantress Mode! Mouse Spirit, Ring Twelve – Orange Demon Mouse!” a big Orange Mouse spirit embraced Riza.
Jannah, the leader of the group, wove signs and cried:
“Pisces Style, Sneaker Art, Ninja Mode; Snake Spirit, Ring Twelve – Ocean Water Snake!”
A giant, light-blue-to-green Water Snake with fins and poisonous fangs embraced her.
“Woah, so many spirits! Alright, if you want to utilize spirits, so be it...” Erik wove signs and shouted: “Leo Style, Battler Art, Emperor Mode; Dragon Spirit, Ring Twelve – Red Fire Dragon!”
A wrathful Red Dragon spirit emerged, spitting fire out of its mouth. Erik laughed from inside its core:
“Now, now, then, how can you beat my Dragon when you’ve got no Dragons on your side, you pitiful brats?”
The girls were about to strike notwithstanding their lower powers when they heard Tamie’s laugh.
“Huh? What are you laughing at?! You don’t even have a spirit unlocked!” Erik chuckled.
“Who needs a Tiger spirit of mine to beat the likes of you? Libra Style, Writer Art, Expert Mode, White Zen – Summoning!” Tamie grabbed her scroll and jotted down a single word: “Ronna!”
She made a two-finger hand sign. The girls and Erik were confused, but soon, they all realised what Tamie actually meant when she said she needed no Tiger spirit to beat a Dragon: just as she made the summoning spell, the scroll glowed white, to give way to a green dragon with bloody wings, sharp horns, fangs, and cogs.
“Ronna!”
Tamie brightened upon seeing her dragon character. She jumped onto her back and flew up high.
“Now we’re not short-handed of dragons, are we? Your Dragon is just a spirit, while Ronna’s a real deal!”
Erik’s jaw dropped – this dragon was even bigger than his!
She indeed has a powerful muse…
“Jan, quick, while I settle things here, get Lord Georg!”
A vile chuckle sounded, which brought great dismay to Erik and Jan, and confused the girls. A young man with short brown hair, hazel eyes, and goat tattoos on arms, had appeared before the Braun couple to protect them from the attackers.
“Goldmund?!” Erik and Jan exclaimed together, “What’s the meaning of this?”
“Huh? Who’s that?” Tiger raised an eyebrow.
Rianna recognized him as she’d been a member of Rose Cruce Order for long enough:
“Goldmund Steinbock?! But he’s a traitor! He was our member but he betrayed us thirteen years ago and formed Illuminant Darkness Order!”
Goldmund chuckled and raised his right hand, where there was a Rose Cruce Order ring. Erik and Jan gasped – so he… he had been lying to them for all this time?! Rianna was no less astounded:
“Huh? What’s the meaning of this?”
“Goldmund Steinbock, Mission of the Grandmaster Rank, no more in need to operate undercover,” Goldmund smiled. The friends noticed he too had Goatee’s earphones and could connect to their Artificial Telepathy System. “Here to stop Jan von Drachen. Once Rose Cruce, always Rose Cruce. As for Illuminant Darkness Order, they’re all my clones”.
He snapped his fingers and made all of his ten covered-faced members appear. They took their cloaks off, to reveal their identical faces with Goldmund. Rianna grew shocked:
“So you were on our side all along?!”
“My mission was to find out how to kill Erik von Drachen in his seal. Now that I’ve obtained needful information, I’ve no more need for hiding. My current mission is to prevent this puny ghost from doing nasty stuff,” Goldmund pointed on Jan.
“You won’t be able to stop me!” Jan wanted to move, but he noticed that he couldn’t – he was locked in an invisible glass box. “How’s this possible? I cannot be locked in items, I’m a Ghost Clone!”
“Sorry. Steinbock Clan of the Builder Class specializes in building unreal stuff, like Magister’s sight-decreasing glasses. How come you thought I was incapable of creating Ghost-locking glass boxes? You are a goner!”
“Huh? But I didn’t even hear you cast spells to build this thing!”
Jan could believe neither his ears nor his eyes. He banged at the glass box, but, unfortunately for him, it turned out not just ‘ghost-locking’, but unbreakable as well.
“I don’t need to cast spells for weaklings like you”.
The girls widened eyes – he didn’t need to cast spells?! They had such a powerful ally on their side!
Once Georg Braun caught the moment, he teleported himself and his wife away with the Air powers. It was no more possible for Jan to catch them.
“Ugh, no!” Jan banged at the glass box, but he struggled in vain.
“So, you are that ‘trustful source’ William was talking about?” Riza brightened – Goldmund was of the Steinbock Clan just like William, so that should be it.
“Oh, finally someone calls my father by name,” Goldmund chuckled, “Thank you, beauty. And yes, I am his son, so I am the most trustful source he can possibly have”.
The girls were stupefied – Goatee actually had a son?!
“Awesome...”
“Well, don’t just stand there, princesses, let’s finish the job here!”
“Yeah!”
The girls charged at frightened Erik.