Chapter 56: The Storm

The wind howls as the Male One's marks begin to spread, and he readies his sword and whip.

A hole opens in space above Daki's corpse.

. . .

All of a sudden, water falls from the hole and splashes on his corpse, forming a puddle under him . . . in the puddle there is one blue glowing gem.

The Female One looks at it with a keen eye.

That gent toldeth me t'is one of the offspring. Interesting.

She raises her right arm, her palm facing the water in preparation.

. . .

The puddle of water starts to rise slowly and engulfs his entire corpse. The gem floats around, rotating around him as the water rises.

As his body and spear get fully engulfed, the gem finally stops and comes to a rest upon his forehead. When it does, some unusual behavior starts to happen, the water starts to take shape and solidify, it loses its color, and then gains colors all over as it solidifies.

One stares, intrigued by the process they are witnessing for the first time.

The process is complete, and his body is fully covered in stylish, fit, and flexible armor in a mix of colors: silver and blue and gold.

His spear is covered in the same material and refined from its previous basic state to something far greater.

One continues to stare, fascinated by what stands in front of them.

The clank of his armor silences the howling of the wind that moves the end of his scarf, raising his head and looking at One with a unique helmet that covers his entire head.

The gem starts to glow and a streak of blue flames courses through the thin lines of the armor, lighting his scarf up in blue flames as well.

From the helmet's eyelids, twin flames emerge, looking at One.

"Befitting of thee," comments the Male One.

The armor then moves the spear from its upstanding position to a downwards inclining one, its blade facing them. The same flames start to streak through its lines, igniting the blade with a blue flame as they the reach the sharp edge.

The armored warrior opens its left hand still facing down.

And a shorter spear made of purely blue flames forms, the warrior grabs it as it finishes forming.

. . .

"Showeth me, the results of thy resolveth, thy lighteth," says the Male One.

He sends out his whip, flying at incredible speed towards the armored warrior.

The warrior throws his purely flame spear high to the sky and the vines of the Male One's whip wrap around him.

A second after they do, they burst into blue flames, the flames starting to travel along the whip.

The Male One lets go of the whip before the flames reach his hand and in perfect synchronization, the Female One and him pounce towards the warrior at the same time.

They don't even cross half the distance yet and the blue flames flare, the warrior no longer visible within.

A sense of the Male One goes off, sending alarms all over as a figure emerges from the flames along with his whip.

Swiftly moving his sword, he intercepts the strike coming from the warrior's spear. Only half of the warrior's body is visible and from the torso down, he is one with the flames.

With no footing and barely blocking the attack, the power of the swing drags the Male One along with it.

With his left hand, the warrior forms another spear of blue flames and attempts to strike the Male One using it but the Female One grabs his arm midair and stops him.

Seeing that both his arms are occupied, the Female One goes for a beheading with her free arm.

The warrior's body flares with blue flames again, and in response the Female One bursts into pink flames. Her arm swings through the blue flames only to behead nothing, she also feels the warrior's arm in her grasp disappear.

She quickly looks in the direction of the spear he is holding in his hand coming to a halt. He is holding it upside down and above her.

Behind him, she sees a large volley of blue spears raining down from the sky at a very, very wide range.

Emerging fully, he attempts to thrust his original spear into her.

"Annoying," she remarks, dodging his attack and going for another strike, her pink flames still dancing around her.

The strike is sloppy and easy to dodge, but that does not matter to her.

Her entire focus is on the left hand of the warrior, and flowers start to bloom on his armor before her sloppy strike lands.

The warrior disappears into the blue flames again and her strike misses again.

She clicks her tongue, looking around with the Male One at the nearby blue flames in anticipation.

The instant the warrior appears, they will strike.

After he doesn't emerge for a while, she glances above and spots him falling down along with one of his spears. But the flowers that bloomed on his left hand have caught fire with pink flames.

"I incapacitated his left handeth from making any more annoying spears that the gent can be one with and emerge from. However, we cannot flyeth up, nor will we get out of this range in timeth. If his large volley reaches us, we will be pinned and inevitably scratched," says the Female One, grabbing the blue spear he left behind.

She overwhelms it with her own flames, making it into a pink spear that she owns, she then steps on the whip and does the same, the whip is completely unharmed.

"Then, we maketh a domain of our owneth below," suggests the Male One, stepping next to the Female One, their guards still up and high on alert.

He grabs his sword and plants it into the ground.

The Female One places her hand on it and lights it up with pink flames.

Deep Emergence.

The earth beneath begins to rupture, and large vines covered in pink flames start to grow all over, they grow through more, and more.

The thorny large vines start to grow so much that the large island starts to feel the effects of it and quacks, starting to rupture.

. . .

Neo firms his feet, feeling the quacks.

What is that? Has something happened?

Thoughts race through his head as he picks Charlotte's head up with his left hand, his right hand tightly holding onto his sword.

He then walks over, standing behind Adora who is seated on the broken and destroyed chair that he tried to fix to the best of his ability, and he places the silent Charlotte on her lap.

Adora doesn't move, looking at the corpse of her partner in silence . . .

. . .

"What now?" asks Neo.

Adora glances to the side and sees a notification to her from the system . . . it's a message from Daki.

A message only she can see.

"Give me a little bit more time," she says, her voice hoarse.

She opens the notification, reading it quickly.

". . . you as well," Adora murmurs.

She feels a heavy weight in her heart, it's too much and her eyes can't bear it, making twin tears fall from each eye.

"Neo, is there a mark of light at the back of my neck?" she asks quietly.

"No, there isn't," he responds in confusion, not understanding what her question is for.

"I see,"

Maybe it's something else then . . .

"Can you give me the last two properties you have? So that I have Monopoly and we get out of here," asks Adora.

Neo tilts his head, "Doesn't Daki have the rest of the properties?"

She sighs, ". . . not anymore. There has been a change of plans, I have all ten now,"

. . .

"What are you going to wish for?" asks Neo.

". . . for the confidentiality of the mission, I am not supposed to tell you . . . yet my heart tells me to tell you. I will follow it yet again . . . I will wish that Sheehan is to be captured in a cage that he can't break out of, nor reach out of. Nothing solid or harmful will pass through it, and the only person that can interact with it freely, is Kayn,"

That . . . was his final command for the mission . . . I will put my faith in you and your judgement.

To the very end.

. . .

"What about Charlotte?"

Adora looks down at the silent's girl's hair.

"I am sorry for what happened to you. Yet, I can't use the wish to recover your body. I promise once we are out of here, I will try my best to find a way to find it, maybe we can use Shee─"

Shuck!

Adora gasps, blood starting to flow from her mouth as she looks down, seeing a sword going through her body from behind . . .

. . . through her heart.