I got you

"Let them all go then. Let all of them go." Szeina glared at the mysterious stranger. She hardly acknowledged Yvann's presence, her eyes zeroing in on the immortal enemy who claimed about wanting her.

For what, she cannot tell.

"And if I do that, what then?"

Szeina shrugged, her eyebrows shooting up as he countered his calculated gaze.

"You were the one who wanted us here. You go figure that out."

The man chuckled, amusement glinted in his eyes.

"See here, Yvann. You must learn from your girlfriend. I like her. Feisty and funny."

"Do we have a deal then?" Szeina went on, not missing a beat.

The man rose to his feet. In a flash, he was standing an inch away from Szeina, his bloodshot eyes scrutinizing her. It was as if he was sizing her up and down.

"You know, you reminded me so much of your mother, dear girl." 

Szeina narrowed her eyes while the man leaned away. He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Those eyes. That face. Her determination. Ah, you are indeed her daughter."

"If you wish to kill me just as you killed her, go ahead. Stop delaying the inevitable. What's holding you back?"

The man shook his head.

"You got this wrong, child. I didn't kill your mother. I'm not the one responsible for her death. You can ask Xeruz himself or any of your guardians. I'm certain they can vouch for my innocence regarding the matter."

Fury.

Anger.

Szeina was seething with rage, her skin becoming hot as her blood boiled.

She wanted nothing but to scathe the man in front of her alive, inflicting him with a terrible kind of pain that he would never forget.

"Stop mentioning her then. She has nothing to do with why I'm here. Why do you speak so harshly of the dead?"

The man chuckled once again. Apparently, he was enjoying the show.

"Oh, but she has, dear girl. She has everything to do with why you are here. Now, wouldn't you want to ask me anything? Come on. I will not make you wait like the people who raised you. I'll tell you everything you'd want to know."

Szeina feigned to contemplate a decision. She spat on the ground and continued to glare towards the man.

"I'd be a fool to believe you, whoever you are."

"Name's Duke, my dear. No need to be shy to ask me that."

Szeina took a moment to compose herself, her thoughts.

"Stop playing your silly games, Duke." She emphasized his name, her voice laced with the anger boiling her blood. 

"Oh, but who said that I'm merely playing games? Do tell."

Duke clapped his hands. Following the gesture, two of the Rebels came out from where Szeina was previously dragged in. Each of them was pulling a limp body with them.

Squinting her eyes, Szeina took a good look, her anger only flaring up as the realization of why he had included innocent civilians dawned on her.

"Enough of this stupid nonsense, Duke. If you really want me, then take me and let everyone else go."

"Well, that's not how the world works, Szeina. Unfortunately. So, I can't really honor your request."

Smirking, he went towards one of the limped bodies, pulling the unconscious mortal to her feet.

Szeina then gasped, familiarizing the person. She was wondering how she came to this place and what she was even doing to get her captured by the immortal monster.

No longer seething with mere fury, Szeina could feel a sudden surge of energy coming from everywhere.

The surrounding air crackled. She wasn't aware of it, but her oceanic eyes glowed bright blue, her hair flying as if an invisible wind was dancing around her.

"You have crossed the line, Duke."

--

It happened too fast.

Yvann hardly understood what transpired in front of him, but a strong whirlwind happened. It called forth the sand surrounding the arena and blocked him from witnessing anything in between shielding his eyes for cover and trying to tug on his chain.

The entire event made him think of a sandstorm, tornadoes and everything that his mind could put into.

In the midst of the turbulence, a single silhouette, eyes bright like a sapphire stone, walked right inside of the storm like there was no chaos in her surroundings.

Yvann gave up on trying to see past the swirling sand and put his focus on breaking his chains. He would be of no help if he was restrained like a dog.

Grunting, Yvann used all his might to pull apart the steel band from his left wrist. It slowly gave way, but the effort it took was strenuous.

The veins on his neck and side of the head bulged out, his knuckles turning white with exertion.

When his other hand was free, Yvann congratulated himself and worked on the other.

Fighting off the gust of sand flying around him was the challenging part of trying to break himself free.

While the sand storm continued to rage on, Yvann was able to free himself and covered his eyes. He coughed up sand, the strong winds picking up a more powerful energy.

"Szeina!" He tried to call out. The roar of the wind was what responded to him, howling in his ears.

"Szeina!" He tried the second time and like the first, the howling wind gave him the response which he no longer expected to receive.

Straining to see, despite the raining sand all over the place, Yvann spotted one of the unconscious people from earlier. When the sand rose and created the storm around them right now, the Rebels watching over him earlier immediately formed a protective circle around Duke.

Even the two Rebels holding the limp bodies dumped their former task to join the defense for the madman.

Pushing through the storm, using his right arm to cover his face, Yvann forced his feet to walk towards the abandoned bodies.

They were females, almost the same age as Sene. 

On the other side, he found the second unconscious individual. Picking up the first one he saw, Yvann managed to drag her and come crawling towards the second one.

When he reached her, Yvann single-handedly put her arms around his neck. He did the same with the other one.

"I got you," he murmured. "I got you both."