**A few moments earlier**
Just outside the Arcane King's castle, the city was in a state of panic as unknown entities filled the skies and streets of the Valley Kingdom—the Phantomdrakes.
They caused chaos in the city; hordes of civilians and mages were suffering the rampage of these phantom dragons.
At the Crimson Dragon's castle, both Blue Phoenixes and Crimson Dragons alike were being swallowed whole by them as well.
There, Ryo had Kiki in his arms and had made it down to the first floor and courts of the castle—the same court were Havoc and Ulrich had just concluded their battle moments before. This was at the same time, he had met Raeyn as he found her already picking up Havoc and throwing him over his shoulder.
"I'll be honest," Ryo said to her as he found her, "I've known of your existence for five years, but this is the first I've had the pleasure of meeting you in person. So you're the true 2nd Executive of the Black Wolves, yes?"
As he said this a Phantomdrake bolted in her direction with mouth gaping, and she dodged it swiftly while slicing its neck with such ease.
When she landed, all she did was glower at Ryo—not saying a word.
"Oh, that's right… You might not exactly know me as well for that matter, heh..." Ryo replied to the silence.
"I know who you are. I've seen you many times through my sister's eyes," she said finally, in a bland tone.
"Ah, I see… Well, I'd like to ask a favor of you if that's alright…"
"Aren't you worried about your own Guild?" Raeyn replied unempathetically, knowing his titles and seeing all the Crimson Dragons arriving, defending the castle. "Shouldn't you be concerned with them, rather than a favor?"
Ryo gave her a nervous smile and scratched his head. His calmness in the situation was astounding.
It was then three Phantomdrakes flanked him without Raeyn's notice.
"Hey—watch out!" she shouted.
But just then, three Crimson Dragons arrived and countered them, dispersing the Phantomdrakes with their magic or weapons. Ryo remained calm all the while like he knew they were going to arrive and do that...
"I'm sorry Raeyn. It's just that this girl here,"—gesturing to Kiki—"Is somewhat important to what happened with Greed just a moment ago. I plan to find out some answers when she wakes up before she is arrested." Ryo said, almost unbothered by what just happened.
Raeyn perked when he said that.
"Sorry... I guess I should explain more—"
"No need." She interjected. "I'll hear you out."
Ryo was elated and thanked her multiple times.
"Just hurry up," she casually ordered him. "The Den is moving and will be at the North Gate entrance in forty minutes… If you are looking for a safe place to put that girl, it can be there. My comrades will keep an eye on her."
"Your home? Moving?" Ryo asked, slightly confused. All these years and this was the first he was hearing this...
"Yes. The Wolves Den."
"I see… but… Moving?"
"Correct. Our home moves. Yours does not? I was simply implying that you activate your home and meet us there," Raeyn said obliviously as if a moving home—castle—was a normal feature. She tilted her head at Ryo with a straight face, genuinely dumbfounded that he did not know what she was talking about. She observed the Crimson Dragon's castle all the while, which was triple the size of the Wolves Den—there was no way that thing moved.
"I see," she went on. "For a castle this large, I'm afraid it will take you much longer to boot up and move than our humble abode. We can go by foot then."
"... Thank you," Ryo said, thinking at the same time, She still thinks our castle moves...
Ryo then collected his thoughts and began observing where these Phantomdrakes were coming from. He traced their necks all the way to the Arcane King's castle which lay decimated even from the distance he was.
"Let's take our leave," Rayen said.
"Aye, but before that," Ryo replied, then took a deep inhale and announced, "My Fellow Crimson Dragons!"—they perked all throughout the castle, his voice rang as if through their comms—"Hear me if you can. Those who can move, protect and care for the ones who can't, even if they are the 'enemy'... as you all can see, these Phantomdrakes do not have a clear side—all are caught in their path are swallowed and drained of their mana. If there was a time where we needed to work as one—as Valley Knights—that time is now! Blue Phoenixes who can hear me, put your differences aside and help us fight against this threat! This will not pardon your crimes, but if you have any ounce of integrity left, use it for this moment, and I swear, by the title I have been given, I will see that your actions are rewarded in some form..."
As he said this, Ulrich who was previously passed out, had staggered to wake, hearing Ryo's words. Same as Milo, who still lay in rubble at a higher tower, overhearing his speech through the comms of some of the Crimson Dragons present around her.
Ryo finished his speech, " So, protect others. Protect yourselves. Come together and let us fight against this common enemy!"
His words echoed amongst the chaos to each and every Knight in the vicinity, his speech streamed through the comms of each Crimson Dragon who was not near enough to hear his words in person.
Even the second Vice Captain Zeke, who was fending off the Phantomdrakes that invaded at another part of the castle. "You heard your Captain! Protect the castle and everyone in it at all cost! Do not waver, or I will throw you to the Phantomdrakes—sickly as I am!"
"Aye, Vice Captain!" The other Crimson Dragons he gathered saluted unanimously.
At this time, more Phantomdrakes bombarded the Crimson Dragons' castle, but the Knights there met each one with the same ferocity. Each one was fighting with vindictiveness in their minds and hearts.
As Ryo and Raeyn proceeded to leave the scene, carrying both Havoc and Kiki with them, the situation at hand intensified. Ryo began to hear cries and screams from his fellow crewmates behind him, and when he whipped his head back, his eyes shuttered at the scene he witnessed.
Each one of his fellow crewmates getting swallowed up by the Phantomdrakes.
A look of horror possessed him. One after the other, his subordinates were taken and eaten from every which way. He turned his head to every angle, but wherever he looked, they met their demise. He trembled, thinking twice as to what he should do.
"No!" He shouted, almost in anger as his aura began to rise, ready to step in with whatever mana he had left, but the incantation of another mage interjected...
"Shadowsteel Magic: Ashen Black Prison."
FWOOM! CRASH!
Through pentagrams from the ethers, an Elemental Summon was cast. A row of intricate black steel pillars appeared and flew out from the sky. Each so large that they crash-landed onto the court in rapid succession, and they destroyed multiple Phantomdrakes all at once.
When Ryo caught sight of who it was, a male in Purple Panthers attire appeared on top of one of the black steel pillars in the sky. His arms and muscles were exposed as he crossed them over the cropped vest he wore. He had a mixture of black throughout his uniform, heavily tattered, and his traditional Purple Panthers robe looked almost like a poncho with the ends torn at each end. He had short, dark reddish-purple hair, and both his eyes were a mesh of red and blue at the same time—never mixing. His baggy harem pants were tan and cuffed at the ankles and finished off with canvas espadrilles on his feet with the logo of his guild fluttering from the breeze of his attacks.
"Sorry, I'm late, old friend. I was just arriving back in the Valley when I saw this chaos from a distance. Your castle was the first I saw, so naturally, I came here as fast as I could. I hope you'll forgive my lateness." The male's polite voice echoed out and into Ryo's ears.
Ryo's dim yellow eyes sparkled at the sight of his old friend back from those precious days, "Zeno!"
When he turned his head to face Ryo, he had a cheerful smile on his face with his eyes closed, completely opposite of his demeanor and the powerful magic he cast onto the court.
"Glad to see you're okay!" His tone carried the same serenity as his face.
Then, as his eyes were still closed and facing Ryo's direction, a group of six Phantomdrakes flew out of the smoke directly onto him…
CRASH!
More black steel pillars shot out from purple pentagrams in the air. The steel pillars crashed onto each Phantomdrake that jumped him from the smoke, dispersing each one hit.
"Don't worry about this place. Do what you need to, and I will join you in the fight when you complete your current duty," Zeno assured Ryo as more of his Purple Panther Knight subordinates appeared on the scene to help defend against the Phantomdrakes. "Do not worry about your comrades here—they are not dead. I swear, I will save each one before their manas run dry! You can count on me!"
Ryo looked at his friend and nodded to him, then quickly turned his head back to the direction that he and Raeyn were going—toward the North Gate.
"You ready now?" Raeyn asked.
As Ryo gestured to her, she changed back to Ophelia in a blink.
"Hi, hi! Welcome to the Ophelia Express! Please keep all arms and legs contained and to yourself while flying, unless you want to lose them!" She said cheerfully and jokingly as she made Havoc float in midair with one hand and the other to Ryo's shoulder. "Okay then! Time to go!"
And all four of them went through the ground, disappearing from the scene.
***
At another section of the Valley, a young boy had been running away, separated from his mother. He ran through the alleyways and back onto the streets as a stalking Phantomdrake followed him from the skies and back down onto those same streets he ran through. Its long neck trailing behind, leaving every area it passed through occupied by its presence.
Frantically, the boy ran with tears in his eyes as the Phantomdrake kept up behind at a ferocious speed. Turn after turn, through the Valley's alleyways, he went, trying to lose it. No matter what path he chose, it was there still. And when he finally turned another corner, deeper into the labyrinth of alleyways, he hit a dead end. He searched around for any door or opening—somewhere, anywhere for him to escape. But there was none.
Right behind him, the Phantomdrake emerged, letting out a menacing snarl. The boy's eyes widened, not daring to turn around. Shoulders rose and goosebumps rippled through him—fear of his impending end.
He turned slowly as tears streamed down his face. But from the sky above him, there in this narrow alleyway, a silhouette of a male with two pistols leaped in between him and the phantom dragon.
WOOSH!
The sound of the wind as he landed. Then three shots fired, all in quick succession at the Phantomdrake.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
The bullets caused shockwaves from each impact. Then, with one last shot, the male faced his right pistol directly at the mangled Phantomdrake before him and chanted,
"Trajectory Magic: Path Weaver!"
Right then, he shot his last bullet, and it became like a magnet to the other bullets he shot, collecting them each as it flew upward. The entire Phantomdrake flew upward as well as if being forced that direction along with the ball of bullets. It met the other phantom dragons lurking in the sky as the male gleamed his yellow hue and black star eyes at it, chanting his sub-incantation,
"Scatter."
The four bullets in the air cracked, each one becoming a tinier and tinier shard until they rained over the other Phantomdrakes there now. It was like fireworks in the sky.
The male then flipped both pistols back into their holsters behind him in a cross-like fashion as the fireworks continued to go off in the sky.
"You good, little man?" the male asked in a relaxed manner. Sporting an olive hooded poncho and bearing the resemblance of a hunter. His headband, tattered along with the rest of his clothes, had his messy medium-length black hair peeking over and under it while his yellow eyes glowed with black stars in the center of them.
Huffing out more tears from his mucous'd face, the boy let out a cry of relief.
The male closed his eyes and shrugged, turning around and crouching to the young boy who was on his knees sobbing, "There, there. You're okay, big guy… You have a parent or guardian we can take you to?"
Sobbing still, the boy said, "My… My mom…"
Looking over him, the scattered shots began to dissipate, and more Phantomdrakes began to swarm in the skies, each echoing a distant roar. He then looked back at the boy and patted him on the head.
"Listen, stay close, and we'll find her together, okay?" he said in the most cheerful smile this young boy had ever seen.
When the young boy saw his face, it was like a missing puzzle piece that, without him realizing, would forever inspire him to be a Knight just like this male in front of him who saved his life.
"Wh—Who… Who are you?" the boy managed to get out.
Completely flattered and instinctively rubbing his index finger on his nose, the male answered ecstatically, "Hehehe. Thought you'd never ask, kid! My name's Rex, of the Green Owl Knights! I know, I know, I'm hella cool, right? I've only been in this Guild for five years, but I'm the Vice Captain! With a little hard work and effort, you too can—" He kept talking… but the young boy didn't care. He was mesmerized by the hero in front of him and made a decision that day that he wanted to grow up to be like this man… perhaps… minus the chatter.
***
Nearby at this same checkpoint, Ryo, Ophelia, and the others were now halfway to the North Gate. Even here, Phantomdrakes scourged the streets as they continued their advance from underground to their rendezvous.
"We're gonna be surfacing soon, we're close," Ophelia said.
As they neared a plaza just before the North Gate, Ophelia began their ascent. The Kingdom's barrier also protected from underground as well and prevented the entering and exiting with use of magic, even among citizens. They either had to enter a subway or walk by foot above ground—the last one being the fastest option.
Her head had been the first to emerge as she scouted the area of any danger before surfacing with everyone fully.
"Coast is clear," she said as she began to bring everyone up.
But right then, blasting through a building, a Phantomdrake emerged from behind and bolted in their direction. Startled, Ophelia screeched as it vehemently charged its way to her; its last seconds to her in slow motion before...
CRASH!
A male figure landed fist-first on top of the raging Phantomdrake.
Fully emerged now from the ground, both Ryo and Ophelia slowly looked in awe at the male who appeared before them.
"Don't you dare… lay a single finger on my future wife!!" the male yelled at the Phantomdrake.
Ryo's expression remained shocked as Ophelia's slowly turned into that of disdain… The male before them was a cool-looking male with blond hair and blue tips spiked up. A strand of stray hair fell over his right eye as his dangling silver earrings, shaped like swords, chimed from his crash.
His shades were black and rounded, slightly revealing his eyes, which were a blueish-white color. The heavy coat-jacket he wore was of the Silver Sharks as he rose from his strike along with large, steam gauntlets on both arms.
He stood with his back facing Ryo and Ophelia as the Phantomdrake he crashed into disintegrated and five more from the smoke emerged, racing right at him.
"Really!? Just one, loser!?" Another voice entered in. "No… I'll show her what a true hero looks like! AND SHE'S MY FUTURE WIFE, NOT YOURS YOU DEAF-STEAMED-ALGAE-EATING-MOUTH-BREATHING-FISH-OUT-OF-WATER-ASSHOLE!!!"
Right then, bullets from the sky rained down unendingly onto the five Phantomdrakes that shot out. The second male flew in from sight unseen with a young boy piggybacking on his back.
"NOW YOU LISTEN HERE YOU STUPID GOOGLY-EYED-CARTOON-LOOKIN-HOMELESS-BIPOLAR-MOTHERFUCKER!" the first, blond-haired male said in a rage as four more Phantomdrakes flew in from all directions, and he shot steam from his feet, spreading out over the whole area.
"The one she's gonna choose…"—he readied his steam gauntlet fist and it grew larger in size—"is me!" Letting out a roar as he struck the ground, the steam below him rippled and pulsed from the impact as geysers shout out like a violent spring underneath them.
"Steam Magic: Steampunk Inferno!"
BOOM!
The sound was like a deep implosion all around them. And all the while, the rest of the steam at their feet protected them from the blasts—a steam barrier that also healed and restored their mana.
"That's how you fuckin' do it," he said a little more quietly under his breath as the Phantomdrakes each disappeared and the steam beneath all of them started to dissipate.
The second male watched with a smirk on his face as the young boy on his back witnessed yet another cool hero of a Knight.
"Whoa!" the young boy said, awestruck.
"Huh? Whoa whoa whoa, he's not that cool, okay. That was just basic magic, even you could do that," the second male lectured to the young boy.
"Really?? Even I can do that???" the young boy replied obliviously.
All the while, the other blond-haired male's eyes were in a white rage, grinding his teeth to their conversation as they came.
"THAT WAS AN S-TIER INCANTATION SPELL, YOU FUCKIN WANNABE!" he blew up at him.
"ONLY an S-Tier? All the spells I've been casting so far are at least SS-Tier… You gotta step up your game if you wanna impress. Come on, man…" the first male jabbed.
"Now that's a load of BULLSHIT and you know it! SS-Tier my ass… With those tiny pistols?? Don't make me laugh!"
"HEY! THESE PISTOLS ARE NOT TINY! LOOK AT HOW LONG THE BARREL IS ON BOTH OF THEM! THEY'RE WAAAY LONGER THAN YOUR POOR EXCUSE OF A D—!"
"NO! DON'T EVEN FINISH YOUR FUCKING SENTENCE! IF YOU DO, I'M GONNA FUCKIN MURDER YOU!!!"
Ophelia's face remained disdained as Ryo's expression changed from surprise to relief and then joy at the sight of them. Two more of his and Greed's friends from their novice days along with Zeno.
"Snow! Rex! I'm so happy to see you both!"
They stopped their bickering at this time and gave a smile that faced toward Ryo. Each unique to them both as they started walking in his direction.
They continued their cool strut as Ryo gave a gleaming smile to them both, and he waited patiently for them to return the friendly gesture. He raised both his hands to give them each a high five as they neared, their faces still stoic as they faced his direction… then… as if in slow motion, both Snow and Rex casually walked past him like he had not been there… and Ryo's cheerful face remained frozen in place as they passed by.
Then, at the sight of her, they both knelt valiantly to one knee and bowed their heads. Like she was a princess, and they were her loyal servant knights who had finally reunited with her after an exaggerated, long, pretend amount of time…
"MY PRINCESS OPHELIA! IT IS AN HONOR!"
"PRINCESS OF THE BLACK WOLVES, PLEASE MARRY ME!"
They both said at the same time…
Ophelia's face had now turned into disgust as her two simps bled from their noses at the mere presence of her, heads bowed.
She sighed and then said to them in the most alluring sounding way to them both, "Raise your heads, boys… I'm no princess…" arms behind her, shy, and with one bare leg over the other—pigeon-toed.
They both whipped their heads upward in retaliation to her words, the blood from their noses sprinkling the air. They opposed but also welcomed the sound of her submissiveness as they beheld their eyes on her smooth white skin.
Rex gasped, "My liege! Do not, for a moment's worth, doubt! You most certainly are a princess—and a beautiful one to bat—even next to princess Belle!" He said so formally, yelling almost with the young boy still propped up on his back and now looking over shyly.
"I agree! You are by far the most qualified to be considered a princess—next to princess Belle of course! And with beauty like yours—how can you not be!?" Snow said after him, following Rex's unnecessary formal gestures. "This fool may be an ignoramus by standards, but one thing is for certain with what he said… and that is YOU ARE A MARVELOUS, BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!!!"
As they spoke their 'truths,' all three of them—Snow, Rex, and even the young boy—stared with sparkling eyes and bleeding waterfalls from their air holes at what the Keeper had blessed with in front of them all… Ophelia's exposed black thong and peeking bare from the sides, the holy grail inches away from their faces.
Then, with one swift motion, she swung her leg and knocked all three of them out—even the poor young boy.
"Next to princess Belle, huh?" Ophelia pouted.
She then focused back to the situation at hand and called out to Ryo, "Can we go now? These simplords reminded me I'm only wearing a thong and your sweater out here."
No response.
"Ryo?" She called out again, "Ryo...? Planet to Ryo, hello??"
Still in the same direction he was facing since greeting Snow and Rex, Ryo did not move an inch. That same naïve, blissful smile had been whipped across his face this whole time as one could hear the soft wind blow against it.
"Am I," he said, talking to himself. "... invisible?"
"Ryo!!!" Ophelia shouted annoyedly from behind him.
Groaning as he got up, Snow rubbed his head and sat with legs crisscrossed on the ground, facing away from Ophelia like a guard dog. And Rex did the same, but facing the opposite direction.
"I had just left for a mission, but when I got word of what was happening here, I left it to my subordinates and rushed over as fast as I could… I'm glad I made it in time." Snow said, seriously this time.
"Unlike this bozo, I had just finished my mission in the Forest Kingdom. So this is perfect timing…" Rex said next as they sat back-to-back from each other.
Snow smirked then closed his eyes. "Ryo, take Ophelia and the others to wherever you're going. From the looks of things… You need a safe place for them,"—looking at Ophelia and then Havoc and Kiki who were passed out—"You don't need to explain the situation to us… Just get going! We'll take care of things here."
At this time, more Phantomdrakes emerged. There were twice as many now as there had been just a moment ago, infesting the area.
"Hey Snow… quit sounding so cool in front of my princess, those are my lines," Rex replied, not even waiting for his response. "Hey, Ophelia…" He shifted his attention to her. He sounded calmer and more collected now, completely opposite of the way he was acting. "This little boy… he got separated from his mom. I was trying to help him find her and then ran into you guys. Please take him with you for now, if you could! If you don't find her by then, I will be back for him and take him off your hands once Snow and I are done here."
She gave him an approving smile as he said this.
"D-D-Don't look at me like that! I don't mean to delegate my responsibilities to you, so don't think of me as that kind of guy... it's not safe here as you can see," he finished. A humble request.
She closed her eyes and said, "I gotcha covered. I'll be waiting for you boys."
When they heard her words, their eyes gleamed and their aura burst like it was all they needed.
"Now that's all the encouragement I need!" Snow said.
"I'm gonna get those words tattooed on my chest after this—'I'll be waiting for you, Rex.'"
"That is not what she said."
Smirking and with Kiki still in his arms, the breeze flowing through his tattered Crimson Dragon's poncho, Ryo finally spoke, "Thank you, guys… After I drop them off, I will join the fray. Leave some of the action for me, okay?"
They both smirked, glowing burning passion in their eyes. Hordes of Phantomdrakes continued emerging from all around.
With their resolve strong and their words stronger—they said simultaneously, "GO NOW!!"
Ryo felt a rush as his eyes blazed when he whipped around quickly with Ophelia and the others. Havoc floating by Ophelia's touch and her other hand holding the young boy's hand, Kiki in Ryo's arms—they left the scene through a connecting intersection.
The two males—Snow and Rex, sat back-to-back as their auras burned the air and looked as if they were still in competition with each other.
"Hey Snow… Remember that round we played in the Kingdom's Guild Draft?"
"What about it?"
"Capture the flag, remember? We kept tabs on who had the most flags. Let's play that! Well… since there's no flags here, let's change the rules a bit. The one who beats the most ghost dragon thingys,"—Snow waited for Rex's next words with anticipation—"gets marry Ophelia. Officially!!"
Their eyes blazed, each to their own unique hue. All that ran across their faces was that of focus and determination as the two Vice Captains from their respective Guilds faced off against the army of Phantomdrakes before them.
"Stupid… that's nothing like capture the flag, you googly-eyed owl,"—rising to his feet—"but it's deal! I'm definitely not gonna lose to an idiot like you."
"Oh, we'll see about that, shark boy." Rex rose to his feet as well.
Right then, the Phantomdrakes charged toward them, and this two-man army charged back with equal ferocity.
***
**Somewhere else in the Kingdom**
As the rumble of Phantomdrakes continued their outbreak throughout the kingdom, groups of people had been running frantically away from the inner cities toward the gates from all sides. North, West, East, and South—all the gates were clogged with people trying to escape. But to no avail.
The Blue Phoenix Knights had previously locked all the gates, causing a rampage from the people. They had all been trapped inside with these phantom dragons now.
Somewhere amidst the scrimmage, a male, separate from the confusion, walked casually from the opposite direction of where the masses had been running. Hood over his billed cap, the black fur trims rustled with the scattered breeze from the frantic civilians running past.
Hands in his pockets, two long swords of red and black on his back in opposite angles, and his Black Wolves logo displayed behind them. He fixed his round glasses with his middle finger as a Phantomdrake shot down to the street he was walking, directly at him. With one quick motion, he unsheathed one of his long swords.
SLASH!
His long sword cut clean right down the middle of it, continuing to fly by in two halves. It slowed down then stopped, fading on the ground from both sides of him.
Then at a street to his right, he saw a couple there; a Phantomdrake prowled in their direction. He glanced at them, contemplating heading over despite being on a schedule.
But a girl from above had jumped in and dispersed the dragon, a detailed spear running though it and eliminating the dragon in one fell swoop.
"Are you two okay?" she asked as her blonde hair sprang when she poised herself. Her Snow Lily Knights' robe glittered its white and silver texture in the sunlight as the slit in the middle revealed her true attire: a sleeveless black cropped mock-neck exposing the sides of her breasts, matched with a short, black glossy pencil skirt, black skin-tights, and black heeled mules on her feet. Standing at five-foot-six to the couple she saved. Rin, 1st Executive of the Snow Lilies.
"Y-Yes, thank you," the male said.
Nodding her head, Rin dismissed the couple and then found Code at the end of the street intersection, just as he had split the Phantomdrake that charged at him a second ago.
She was about to open her mouth to call out to him, but another Phantomdrake had come out of nowhere, finding her and the couple that was barely running away there below.
"Shit!" She said, startled. But right then—a quick slash, followed by three more consecutive slices, got to the Phantomdrake first.
SLASH! … SHING! SHING! SHING!
It split into multiple pieces and then disintegrated inches above her head. The couple that was still there finally fled around the corner afterward.
When she whipped her head back to Code, he was already walking away.
"Wait! Code!" Rin followed him around the next intersection only to witness him hopping a wall upward onto a nearby rooftop, dodging the Phantomdrakes that were there on the streets. They followed him as he leaped to the sky off the roof, and then with a quick snap from his fingers, he was entirely elsewhere and out of sight.
Snap…
A grenade had replaced him where he once was...
A larger male in the same uniform as her appeared as if in light speed to where she was. "Rin, are you okay?"
She watched as the Phantomdrakes swarmed onto the grenade that Code replaced himself with in the sky, blowing up from where Code had once been.
BOOM!
The explosion emitted above them as they both covered their eyes from the blast.
"Damn it… he got away…" Rin said to the larger male, Goro.
"Well… can we really still consider him to be a fugitive with all this going on? I saw it myself… he saved yours and that couple's lives," Goro asked calmly.
"I know…" She brushed her blonde hair as the winds still picked up their long cloaks with it in the breeze of the fading blast. "I understand now why he had us wandering around aimlessly throughout the whole Kingdom." A look of conviction formed in her violet eyes as she finished saying, "And I wanted to see if he would let us work with him."
***
Atop a higher building with a view to the center of the Kingdom—the Arcane King's castle, Code observed the wave of Phantomdrakes in the distance, and the source from where they had spewed out. The sound of screams and cries from the people in the distance carried even to where he was, way up high, muffled as it was.
Kneeling, he took the two long swords from his back and connected both hilts together, transforming them into a new, large bow. It was intricate and mech-like—powerful in build and heavy despite its slender look. Almost the size of himself at the height of six-foot-one.
A light blue aura connected the opposite tips of both ends of his swords, forming a bowstring. Nearby, a quiver of arrows neatly leaned on a wall by him—strategically placed here prior to the whole event, even prior to today. It had been placed here by none other than himself the day before.
From his pocket, he pulled out his comm. One that had been taken from him prior to joining with Syemore—and one that he took back with a quick, unnoticed snap of his fingers before he and Syemore parted ways at his rally.
He began checking the messages in the chat, reading through all the updates and of course, the last message—from Greed… three words… two words for a sentence and a name… his name… Five minutes. Code, was all it said, but since being sent, it had been a total of four minutes and thirty-or-so seconds…
As he reached for the quiver and threw it over his back, he began scanning an abandoned building in front of him with his magic.
"Trace."
He chanted his sub-incantation as the abandoned building before him and the surrounding area turned into blue geometry through his eyes, searching for any signs of life within it. There were none to be found.
"Clear," he said to himself.
Standing up slowly now, he positioned himself and reached for an arrow. He found his aim and pointed it to the sky high above the Arcane King's castle and waited patiently.
A gold ripple in the sky shrouded the entire Kingdom starting from the walls, covering over the original barrier. It rippled from the outer layers of the Kingdom, all the way to the center where there was a slight opening. There in the distance, he could see it…
The figure shot out into the sky, bursting through the crystalized Phantomdrake tree, and flying past the new gold barrier proceeding to close.
And there he was—Syemore—rising higher and higher like a meteor until he flailed above it all.
That's when he took his shot.
Flick… FWOOM!
His arrow blasted through the air so fast, it caught up to Syemore where he suspended, making it in time just before the gold barrier closed shut. It flew just over him in the sky—a miss it seemed… but he wasn't aiming for him…
Just then, the entire Kingdom glowed white as the pentagrams that Code laid out began to activate one by one in different sections. The city glowed like holy land—the rays like the sun's, beaming up from the streets. Each looking like arms stretched out like they belonged to devout believers of the Keeper.
And with one carefully positioned motion of his middle finger and thumb, he chanted,
"Space Manipulation Magic: Field Expansion: God Canvas!"
Snap…
Immediately, the abandoned building in front of him disappeared, leaving nothing but an arrow stabbed in the ground far below in the large open space it used to be—that same arrow he had just shot. And, likewise, from where the arrow had been, high above the Arcane King's castle—the abandoned building—in a blink, shadowing Syemore entirely. His crimson eyes reflected in macro view the heap of concrete and metal inches away from his face. Gravity did the rest as the enormous, colossal monument slammed right onto him, face-first…
SLAM!!
It hit him so hard that they ravaged back down on top of the golden barrier, closing just before the massive crash coursed throughout the top of the dome. The winds howled from the insane impact with a muffled boom above.
CRASH!!!
At this time, Syemore had been caught between the impact of the building and the barrier, causing devastating wreckage above the Kingdom. Code watched as the spectacle unfolded before him, a proud artist admiring the canvas he had painted on. The barrier rippled as the scene concluded. Just one last—or rather—two last individuals to send over. For the battle was reaching its finale. The dome was their stage, and they were its stars.
As the sound and view of the crash from above proceeded to resolve, Code casually popped out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. He flicked open an intricate silver lighter from his jacket pocket and lit the bud, inhaling the smoke and exhaling it in a drawn-out manner. Finally relaxing himself as his pentagrams around the Kingdom began to fade slowly away.
"The rest is up to you… Captain," he said as he closed the lighter with another flick and snapped his fingers with his other hand swiftly.
Snap!