A few minutes ago…
"So wait, is everyone here a hybrid? Does Safatore turn into a majestic unicorn? And Semacoar, a gust of wind?"
Eon pouted, quite surprised by how upset this revelation had made April. They were talking too loud.
"No. No such thing. But the thing with me, it's a secret." She tried to explain. "Not because I can't control it, but because I don't want what's happening to you to happen to me… what's happened to Akka."
April squinted.
"Wait… what happened to Akka?"
Eon paused before shaking her hands in April's face as if to waft the girl's curiosity away. "Wait– no! Back to me! I'm the siren that tried to give you that paper."
April's attention was immediately redirected to that memory. She crossed her arms, leaning back against the golden wall.
"So were you or were you not trying to drag me to the bottom of the sea for your meal?"
"The bottom of the sea? Wh– no. April, the thing you have to know about me is that when I'm in that particular form… I am not completely full. Not myself."
"Yeah, no kidding." April scoffed.
"But I'm completely harmless." Eon admitted, tilting her head. She wore a small smile, her icy blue eyes twinkling with sincerity and softness.
From the wall, April gazed at her with an assessing look. Eon, in that fish-mode, had not really done anything to harm April, all beside scare the life out of her. But if this form of hers was a secret, this conversation should not have been happening, then.
April uncrossed her arms and chewed on the inside of her mouth, leaning forward to swish her tails behind her.
"Why're you telling me about this, anyway?"
Eon smiled softly. "So you don't run up a tree the next time you see me in that form. I will never hurt anyone like that."
April glanced aside. That was up for debate.
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ ε=ε=(っ* ´□` )っ
Saka stood on the spot as the eight guards stood at all the egress points, cornering him like a caged animal. But that's the thing about caged animals, they get defensive. So he bore his fangs.
"Move aside."
"You attacked two of our own," one of the she-elves behind him said, the party advancing slowly.
Saka didn't move a muscle as they inched closer. "I dare you to repeat their mistakes."
The guards approached, still.
"There was a pact among the palace guards a decade ago; we wouldn't retaliate against your tyranny since you were only a child. It withstood, but now you've returned and you have returned to your old ways. You're not a child anymore, Sakature."
"You're still talking," Saka snarled.
The muscles in his grey metal left arm grinded together as he balled his hands into fists. This wasn't a situation he needed to strain himself for. But he couldn't ignore the fuzzy and nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him someone would suffer if he toyed with these guards and didn't finish with them quickly. That feeling made him a little uneasy.
"You're hesitating," the guard ahead of Saka observed.
Saka pressed out a breath. He could see the smirk in the guard's eyes from the visor of his green helmet.
"Let's do this like old times, Your Highness."
Saka took a step forward, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
But a lasso suddenly fell over his shoulders. It came to a taut pull, and before he could react, he was yanked back and fell to the floor, dragged all the way to the feet of the two she-elves, one of whom was wielding the blue lasso. She brought her sole down on his right shoulder, stomping on it.
Saka groaned in pain, gritting his teeth but immediately realizing after the pain vanished that April might have felt that too. And that realization was punctuated by April's surprised scream in his head.
[The circle! Run to it, run! Run!] He telepathically relayed before the lasso elf stomped on his abdomen.
He grunted out through gritted teeth, shooting his eyes open to see all six of the other guards reaching him. The uneasy feeling still tickled his stomach as he was manhandled to his feet, the pink-eyed elf grabbing him by his ponytail.
"This feels familiar. Only… the roles were reversed. Where's that monstrous strength you displayed as a seven-year old, Your Highness?"
Saka chuckled bitterly.
"You wanna see monstrous? You asked for it."
The elf perked up, his eyes widening in half-hearted dread.
Saka tensed up, pulling his head back before he headbutted the guard right on the helmet. The others gasped and watched the man recoil. He staggered back, groaning out loud as purple blood spewed from his face, the helmet dented and biting into him.
Saka scoffed, purple dripping down his face as well, a cut on the forehead vanishing. The woman holding him in place pulled back on the lasso, disrupting his balance and gripped the lasso hard. She grunted and pulled, swinging him around twice before letting go of the rope, successfully throwing Saka away to smash against the wall.
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ ε=ε=(っ* ´□` )っ
On the other side of the castle, April crumpled in Eon's arms. She grabbed her forehead as purple blood trickled through her fingers.
She cried out in pain, her back also radiating with pain.
"What is Saka doing?" Eon shouted in frustration, helping the girl to her feet.
April whimpered in her hands. The redhead scowled. She looked up at the golden ceiling.
"Coa, we need the door to the combat room. Now!" She blasted the roof with a furious spell from her twisting wand.
April lifted her head when the floors and walls groaned like an ancient beast whining in complaint. They shifted and then there was a door in front of them. Eon gasped and rushed her inside. They ran all the way to the circle a distance away before the redhead practically tossed her into the fight circle, her tails unsuccessfully cushioning her fall.
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ ε=ε=(っ* ´□` )っ
Saka opened his eyes immediately to see the guards all converging on him. He knew immediately when the wound on his forehead faded into a scratch that April had made it to the circle. And the silence in his head was also a sign.
That guard with the helmet pulled it off his face, inevitably scratching himself before chucking the compacted shell aside. A nasty wound ran across his face, purple blood painting his entire face as he snarled at the Third Prince. But unlike the scratch on Saka's face, his gory wound sealed and immediately vanished.
Five elves pinned Saka to the wall. That elf ran a hand through his beautiful strawberry-blonde hair, sighing after the purple blood cleared.
"I see you managed to attain some form of Heliomorphosis, even if it was for a fleeting moment." He gripped Saka's chin and tilted it up as four elves strained to hold onto Saka's metal arm.
"Taerrille, you are aware that if I kill you now, you and your friends are never coming back to life, right?" Saka asked heatedly, his left arm's metallic joints grinding with effort as the men and women pulled against its strength.
The elf nodded, his grip on Saka's chin leaving a bruise on the young man's snow-white skin.
"The years you spent terrorizing the army and violating our souls have made us unafraid of death, Sakature Kraufford." The man growled, pulling his other fist back, knuckles white.
Saka's eyes widened. There was no bluff in either of their words, Saka and Taerille. But now that April was safe inside the circle, he was physically exposed, with no Heliomorphosis, and he was sure as hell not going to hold back, knowing he had the short end of the stick. And the anxious feeling was gone.
Taerrille's fist pulled back past his face and jerked back like a coiled spring, aimed for the young man's face. Saka's head moved out of the way at the last second, Taerrille's bare knuckles smashing into the wall with a sickening crack, chunks of the wall breaking off. Saka, having dodged successfully, his eyes wide, turned them to face the man.
Taerrille saw as the four men and women all gripping onto Saka's metal arm faltered when he pulled it down, swung his arm—taking them for a ride—and knocked him—Taerille—far off, a left hook to the jaw. Saka shook off the rest of the five guards and cracked his knuckles.
"Prepare to die because there's no Soul Archer to guide you to the Afterlife!"
Taerille sprung to his feet despite the broken jaw. Everyone in that cross-intersection tensed, muscles coiled before they all sprang into the air, their weapons ready, Saka's fist pulled back and fangs bearing.
Marbles silently rolled onto the floor, successfully stopping in the midst of the feuding elves. They exploded, grey smoke enveloping everything as the figures vanished inside the smoke with startled yelps. They fell down to the floor a few seconds later, six of them tied together in a bunch with silvery steel ropes, and Saka tied by himself.
They fell to the floor with a metallic clangor, their weapons discarded. Saka, who had landed on his side, thrashed about.
"MASARUUUU!!" He cried terribly.