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Chapter Twenty-Three: Prince of the Forest

"AH-MAH-KANAWA! AH-MAH-KANAWA!"

Akari, Marachii, and Hikari heard the noises of the many dwarves around them, all chanting the same thing. They had all risen up after the trio just knocked every single one of them down, with glowing brown eyes and wooden armor emerging from them.

"What the hell...?" Marachii looked at the dwarves, who all now had tungsten weapons, seemingly emerging from their armor. "Do dwarves usually do that?"

Akari looked at each of them one by one. "Not to my knowledge."

Durin walked in front of his fellow dwarves, with a huge tungsten spear now in his hands. "Let's KILL them and reunite with the Prince!"

"YEAH!"

In no time at all, they all rushed toward the three, weapons in hand. Marachii backed up and Hikari used her Storage Magic to catch the arrows of some of their bows, but Akari simply held up one hand.

"We're leaving now."

"Oh no you're not—-!"

She slammed it into the ground, causing a massive energy shockwave to hit the first two rows of dwarves, including Durin. They all fell to the ground, scattered around. Durin weakly called out:

"Don't...be fazed! Kill them for our Kingdom!"

As the next row of dwarves charged them, they attempted to swarm the three. Many of them aimed their bows, drawing back the strings.

"FIRE!"

As loads of arrows sailed toward them, Marachii watched Akari move at a speed he'd never seen before. With ease, she caught all of the arrows as they came at her, snapping them all in half at once.

"Wait, how did you do that—-?"

"We have to go." She grabbed Hikari and Marachii, and as more dwarves drew closer she stomped her foot into the ground, creating a powerful wave of energy that kept them at bay.

Then she ran.

With both her teammates in her arms, she moved at a pace that Durin and the other dwarves could not hope to match. But then...

"AH-MAH-KANAWA! AH-MAH-KANAWA!"

Their eyes seemed to glow even brighter, and Durin began to laugh. The armor around him and his men grew thicker and their weapons grew longer.

"Yes...yes! Now we kill them!"

In a flash, so fast even the wind began to shift, they all chased after the three. Marachii looked back, eyes wide.

Hikari was also looking at them, as they got closer and closer. "Akari? Akari, they're COMING!"

Akari looked back for a second, confusion appearing on her face momentarily.

"Oh, shi—-!"

As a dwarf caught up to them, preparing to swing, Akari began to glow white and a giant forcefield emerged from her body, surrounding the three. The dwarf's axe struck it and bounced off.

"Tricks! Sir, she has tricks up her sleeve!"

Durin was right on their heels. "Don't falter! Hit it as many times as it takes!"

At his command, more dwarves got closer and raised their weapons. "ATTACK!"

As they repeatedly slashed and attempted to break her forcefield, Akari kept the same pace, not looking at the mound of dwarves around them. Marachii was stunned into silence, unable to speak or move as he began shaking.

"Oh gosh, they're so scary! What do we do? What do we DO?" Hikari also began to panic. Akari took a breath, and then she grabbed onto Marachii and Hikari even TIGHTER.

Then, with the energy around her seeming to increase EVEN FURTHER, she took off in the blink of an eye, leaving the dwarves and Durin in the dust.

When Marachii opened his eyes, they were no longer surrounded by any dwarves. They were at a quiet pond, glowing and warm. Akari put both Marachii and Hikari down, and Marachii immediately hurled.

Hikari winced. "Ew! That's so gross!"

"Sorry...I...need a minute. Or twenty."

Akari began to walk forward. "Okay. I'm going to find Fujii."

Hikari got up after her. "Wait! I'm coming too! Don't leave me here!"

"You have to watch the human."

"Why me?"

Before she got her response, Akari had already disappeared in a burst of speed. Hikari sighed.

Marachii was so busy trying to recover, that he hardly noticed anything else. Dripping with sweat, he hurled a few more times, before passing out onto the ground.

Hikari just sat down a few feet away from him, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. But then...

"This way! Two of them over here!"

A horde of dwarves came out of the bushes and trees, armored and with sharp tungsten weapons. "There they are! Get them!"

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of the Dwarves...

"Dude, I'm STUCK!"

Dachii and Tomoko thrashed against their restraints, the thick, vine-like branches curling tighter and tighter around their bodies, which made Tomoko drop his gun. Alarax slowly stomped his way toward them, hammer dragging behind him.

"Now, DIE, you murderous MONSTERS!"

Tomoko laughed. "Hahahaha! He's gonna smash our heads and KILL US!"

Dachii tried his best to break free. "Get...me...out...of...here...! Can't...you...see...we...aren't...them...?"

Alarax glared at them, and the branches seemed to grow even thicker.

"AH-MAH-KANAWA."

As he got closer to Dachii and Tomoko, a voice called out.

"Prince! Wait, they are humans!"

Dachii breathed a sigh of relief as the vines slackened a bit. "See, I told you—-!"

Then he abruptly stopped when he saw Nukuri running in from the forest. "Oh. Why are YOU here?"

"That boy with the dreads has weird powers! But he seems human! And so does his friend, no magic seems to come off of them!"

Alarax looked at his general. "What? Why do they help the enemy?"

"I don't know! Maybe we should interrogate them?"

"Look. Let. Me. GO!" Dachii tried to struggle even further, while Tomoko just kept laughing. Alarax leveled his hammer at them.

"You're gonna give me answers, now! Prove to me you are human!"

"What do you want me to do, a blood test or something—-?"

He slammed his hammer down, making Dachii shake. "Enough of this. Nukuri, take them to the dungeon for answers."

Dachii began to glow gray. "I...re...FUSE!"

Tomoko just looked at him with a smile. "Haha! What's going on?"

The vines began to break, one by one. Eventually, it got to the point where Dachii could stand. Alarax studied him.

"Hmph. Forgot, you have one of those Powers."

As Dachii tried to stand tall, Alarax immediately sent him flying with one swing of his hammer. "Tiny human."

As he walked over to Dachii, he looked back at Nukuri. "Nukuri! Watch the other one!"

"Yes, my Prince!"

Dachii got up, shrugging off the hit. He looked around him and decided to grab Tomoko and bolt. As Alarax got close, Dachii sprinted right beside him before the dwarf could react.

"Don't run! Come here and fight, if you're a human!"

"Nope, I'm good!"

Nukuri tried to stop him, but Dachii ripped the vines off of Tomoko and grabbed him, taking off deeper into the kingdom.

"Yay! Where are we going now?"

"Anywhere but here!"

Nukuri began to follow them, but Alarax stopped him. "It's ok. I'll stop them. Find the others and reunite with them, so we can crush the other fools wandering our paths!"

"Yes, Prince!"

Then Alarax, with a burst of power, leaped after the two boys.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest...

Fujii and Naito were both running towards the center of Asmana Forest, moving at such high speeds all the trees seemed to blur beside them.

"How close do you think we're getting, Naito?"

"I don't know."

As Fujii began to chuckle, he heard the snapping of a twig behind him, which made him stop in his tracks, and he began to draw his sword. Naito landed next to him, surveying the area.

"There. Attackers."

Right on cue, a bunch of strange dwarves came into view: eyes glowing, wooden armor, tungsten weapons, and a different aura about them.

Fujii drew his weapon. "Great, seems we'll have to deal with this again."

But he began to take in their strange new transformation. "Wait...what is this...?"

"Kill them!"

Ironbeard came to the front of the pack, attacking Fujii with a sharp tungsten sword. "You will die, Champion!"

"Well, not the first time I've been told that. So let's see!"

In no time at all, Fujii had a third of the dwarves frozen solid with just one strike. Ironbeard looked on with a shocked expression.

"What...?"

But just like that, it was gone. "Die!"

He ruthlessly attacked Fujii, who parried all of his attacks without any effort. Naito easily blitzed dozens of dwarves before they could react, slicing them and bringing them down.

BOOM.

Another loud sound that came from the center of the forest got everyone's attention again. Ironbeard snapped his fingers, and one of the dwarves blew a horn.

Almost a hundred dwarves came to their location in just a few seconds, all having undergone the same transformation that Ironbeard and the others had.

"Now, kill them all! Don't let them get near the Prince!"

Archers among their ranks began to fire, but as they shot arrows at them, they somehow all got deflected. Everyone blinked, and in the next second, Toru was standing there, Joustblade in hand.

"Sorry, you two. They escaped my watch, damn creatures."

"No problem! We got this—-!"

Even more dwarves came out of the trees. "CRUSH THE CHAMPION AND HIS ALLIES!"

Then they all began to chant the same thing: "AH-MAH-KANAWA! AH-MAH-KANAWA!"

The dwarves zoned in on them, surrounding them.

BOOM.

Fujii looked in the direction of the noise, and then he looked back at the approaching dwarves.

"Naito! You go see what's going on over there! Me and Toru will handle this, and catch right up with you!"

She nodded. "Okay."

Then with a graceful and powerful jump, she took off. Ironbeard pointed at her. "Don't let her get away! Stop her!"

But as many dwarves tried to follow, Fujii froze them all with a single strike of his sword.

"Welp, let's get this done, Toru!"

"I agree."

They both began attacking the angry dwarves, taking many of them down and keeping them at bay. Ironbeard began to stomp his feet in anger.

"No, no, NO!"

Toru, moving in a flash, got close to him.

"This ends here."

Meanwhile, back at the Dwarf Kingdom...

"Weeee! This is fun!"

As Dachii, carrying Tomoko, jumped from building to building, Tomoko held his arms out as if he were on a roller coaster.

"He is gaining on us! Ha!"

"Oh gosh, how do I shake this guy—-?"

Then they both got kicked out of the air, failing to the ground with a THUD. Tomoko slowly got up, holding his head with a smile, and Dachii lay sprawled on the ground.

"Ow. I just...wanna...go home."

Alarax landed in front of them. "Well then, humans! Last chance! Surrender or be crushed!"

"Can I take option C? Take my ass home?"

"NO!"

He swung his hammer down again, forcing Dachii to quickly get up and jump back. "Didn't I tell you? I don't wanna fight!"

"Then STAND DOWN! I want ANSWERS!"

As Alarax swung his hammer again, Dachii punched it, causing a loud BOOM that shook the entire forest. "Woah."

Then Alarax picked him up and slammed him into the ground. "Ugh, this...is getting ridiculous..."

Tomoko ran at Alarax and jumped on his back, trying to pull him down. "Look, Dachii! I got him! HAHAHAHA!"

"Get off, brat!"

"Special Move: BACKSIDE TAKEDOWN!"

He tried in vain to pull the dwarf down, who simply ripped him off and threw him to the ground as well. "Haha, he escaped!"

"Enough of this. This will hurt."

Dachii heard a voice in his head, almost like a dark whisper.

"Stand...up...work...to...do..."

"W...work?"

Alarax brought his hammer down on Dachii, forcing him to put his arms up. They began to glow gray, blocking the powerful strike. It caused another massive BOOM that could be heard all over the forest.

"I'll break your DEFENSE, human! How DARE YOU ALLY WITH SUCH SCUM?"

"Didn't I tell you I don't have a choice?!"

"LIES!"

Dachii grabbed Tomoko and they began to run again, but Dachii tripped and fell, starting to feel a bit overworked. "What the...? Why do I feel so sluggish?"

"Haha! Maybe too much activity! Now we will die!"

Alarax caught up to them in no time at all. Preparing for another strike, he got in a low stance and began to swing his hammer, but then...

WHOOSH.

A figure knocked him to the ground, causing deep slashes in his armor. Alarax stood up, annoyance on his face.

"Who was that?"

Standing in front of him, as elegant and gracefully as possible, was:

"Is that...that girl from the Tryouts?" Dachii rubbed his eyes, making sure he was seeing clearly.

Tomoko laughed loudly. "Haha! It's Naito! Yay!"

Naito had her metal fans in hand, snapped open. She didn't even look at Alarax as sized her up. Taking note of her glowing white skin, he knew exactly what she was.

"You! You're one of them! One of those PSYCHOPATHIC BASTARDS!"

She turned around. "I'm here to help you, kids."

Dachii coughed, really taking in her appearance. "Wow...look at her...she looks amazing, like really, really, REALLY AMAZING—-"

Alarax charged at her. "YOU WILL DIE, CRIMINAL!"

With ease, she backflipped over him, double-kicking him right into a building. Landing back on her feet without an issue, she got up close to Dachii and Tomoko.

Dachii struggled to make eye contact as she began to speak. "I can handle him. You can sit down and watch."

"Will do! Haha!"

"Yeah...what he said."

Before anything else could happen, a massive hammer swung right at her head.

"Oh, Naito! Look out—-!"

She dodged it with no problem, getting Dachii and Tomoko out of the way, all before anyone could react. Alarax was watching her, pure fury on his face.

"Come and fight me, tyrant!"

"Okay."

In the blink of an eye, she was behind Alarax, going toe to toe with him. Every time he made a move, she dodged and countered, and she moved like a dancer, flipping and evading all of his attacks as Dachii and Tomoko watched in awe.

"You're like a damn cat! Stop all that moving around!"

She stood still, and as she threw both her fans into the air, they began to hover in place, stunning all three guys.

"WHAT?"

Swiping her arm, they homed in on Alarax, forcing him on the defensive as their speed got quicker and quicker. As Alarax began to receive various slashes due to the fans, he only had one thought in his mind.

"No! They won't win! Not after what they did! NOT AFTER WHAT THEY DID!"

In his mind, the Voltians had committed a terrible sin. One they HAD TO PAY THE PRICE FOR.

The sin they committed...that fateful day...

...long, long ago.

—-