A Submarine

"You're gonna add another hole in my body if you keep staring like that."

Ale laughed as he spoke, bringing Phil back to reality. The Ale he knew from two years ago wasn't here anymore. He had grown, and he grew into someone remarkable.

And it wasn't just Ale who grew. The people around him weren't the same either. Phil and Gary, they were no longer kids on the street fighting for food, neither were they weak or powerless.

Ale made them grow. He turned those useless kids into one of the finest knights in the country. He didn't just grow by himself, he pulled the ones around him up as well.

"You should take better care of yourself."

He complained as he looked at the numerous cuts on Ale's body.

"It was an emergency, you know?"

Ale tried to advocate for himself. He wanted to use the water disaster as an excuse.

"We could've handled it even without your help."

It was Gary who replied this time. The one with the strongest power knows the best. And he knew very well that the disaster situation was manageable even without Ale's help.

"What if it managed to devour the Holy Relic in the middle of your fight?"

Ale retorted. He wasn't going to go down so easily in a verbal war.

"We could've handled that as well."

Phil replied almost forcefully. He didn't want Ale to go through any more of his suicidal plans or techniques. He had seen enough.

"Now now.. Didn't everything turn out for the best in the end? Why don't we leave it at that?"

He said while slowly standing up. The other two also reflexively stood up as they watched him.

"Where are you going now?"

Phil asked on alert.

"I'm not going anywhere.. They're done."

The moment he said those words, the huge door behind them slowly creaked and opened up. Rudy came out of the room the same way he went in a few minutes ago, casually. There were no visible changes in him, except -

"Give him the medicine."

Ale said to Phil while pointing towards Rudy's hand. There was a pretty deep cut in his hand which was still dripping blood slowly.

"Oh, yes. Here."

Rudy took the balm and gave Ale a nod to show his thanks, to which Ale simply smiled in response.

"Where is she?"

Ale asked as he could no longer see the Holy Relics human form behind Rudy.

"Here."

Rudy placed his hand on top of his heart and answered. It meant that the connection was successful and the relic was now a part of him.

A handsome guy, presumably the most handsome one in their planet, wearing a full black coat on top of a skintight pant and turtle necked top, placing his hand on his chest and speaking in a sentimental voice, it was definitely a scene to watch.

'Handsome~'

"I see. So are you able to weild her power freely now?"

Ale asked as he took out something from his pocket. It looked like a small journal of sorts, with the leather binding and everything. There was the letter "A", his initial, engraved on it as well.

"Yes, that's right."

Rudy kept staring at the journal while answering Ale's question. For some reason, he really wanted to see what was inside.

"Alright. Then I'll show you something next. You need to remember the shape and the structure and alter this palace's shape accordingly. You can do it, right?"

Rudy nodded his head, a little excited to be able to see the inside of Ale's personal journal.

On the surface.

"Are they all dead?"

Ron asked while staring at the water from one side of the boat.

"I sure hope not."

Stuart answered from the other side of the boat.

"My young master is surely alive."

Kevin said while standing near the steering wheel. He was trying to keep the boat stable and in one point while they waited for the others to come back.

"As long as they come back alive.. I can still fix them up."

Alice replied with a gloomy aura hanging around her, it almost gave everyone a chill. She looked like the British version of a grim reaper.

"They're okay."

Ash's sentence was as short as always.

"And how exactly do you know that, dear brother?"

Ron asked with a frustrated attitude. He also wanted to go down with them, but was given the responsibility of protecting the people on board so he couldn't.

"Bubbles."

Ash's reply to Ron didn't make sense at first. But soon, Ron realised what he meant as he saw the numerous water bubles coming up to the surface of the water from down below.

"Something's moving.. "

"And it's gigantic."

The bubbles were covering a huge area of the surface water, making it seem like something massive was approaching. Wondering whether it was friends or enemy, Ron clenched the Axe on his hand tighter.

And soon, the bubbles grew more in size and number, and a part of the water started to bulge. Thankfully it was in a location a bit further from their boat, so they could see it clearly.

"What it is?"

"I don't know? A whale?"

"It doesn't look like one.."

As the people from Rudy's party kept making assumptions, Kevin on the other hand was a little confused since he found the 'thing' coming up a little familiar.

'Where have I seen it before?'

He wondered to himself as he leaned on the railing of the boat. As he squinted his eyes trying to see better, a round part on top of that thing started rotating, and soon, there was a hole in it.

"Oh!"

"What's that?!"

"A door perhaps?"

As they kept looking with utmost interest, the figure of a human slowly came out from the opened hole, or door in this case.

"Hi."

Ale came out and waved his hand towards their boat as he smiled.

'Young master's journal! That's where I saw this thing before.. What was the name again...?'

Submarine. It was a submarine. Or at least the shape of it.

And it was something Ale had witnessed in the future, during their fight with the Demon kind. He could remember and draw out it's shape from the numerous dreams that he had of the future during the past three years.