"Tyel…" whispered Martheel as he was walking behind him. Tyel, still in the Timehors costume and with the mask in his hands, turned back.
"What is it?" asked him, confused by the sudden mention of his name.
"…" Martheel took a deep breath before speaking. "…You see, the reason I came here was because… I was scared about your sanity. Every time you returned from a mission, you weren't in the best condition."
Tyel, remembering how he used to act the days after a mission in the prison, let out a soft gasp. "Oh yeah… well now you see what the reason is."
"I know… but I was scared, Tyel. You always talked to us about your dream of becoming Timehors… of how you admired him and of how you wanted to save everyone just like your hero." As Martheel pronounced these words, Tyel suddenly shifted his eyes and focused on the costume he was still wearing and on the mask.
'Do I really need these?' thought Tyel. "I know I'm not Timehors… but I could never have been him," answered Tyel, when suddenly he began to smash the mask in his hands.
'It hurts… this has helped me so much…' thought Tyel as he was slowly crushing the mask. Everyone else, confused, looked at him.
"I don't need this anymore…" whispered Tyel as he let the mask fall to the ground.
Everyone else remained silent as they waited for Tyel's action. "But I can't just throw it like this… without this, I wouldn't have actually been here…" Tyel carefully removed his costume and, as he folded it, placed it on top of a piece of debris.
"I don't have to wear it anymore… but… destroying it like it never happened isn't right…" As Tyel looked at the costume that was no longer on his body, a small tear fell from his eyes.
"Thank you for everything… I'll come and pick you up again once this is all over." As Tyel returned to his feet, he looked back at his companions and smiled, without any more tears falling down his face. "I'm not Timehors… I tried to be like him… but in the end… I'm simply Tyel, and I should do things in my own way…" With that, he began to walk again toward the exit. "Let's go kick Ashikunz's ass… and free the city!" yelled Tyel. Everyone else behind him raised their arms.
"YES!" shouted all of them together, and the group left, leaving Timehors's costume behind.
"Ehehe, I can't wait to try my tactics against that krukin! After you explained how his armor works, I've thought of a lot of attacks!" said Vane happily. Darian, next to him, coughed.
"Uhm, actually… I thought of them… you were too excited thinking about the imminent fight…" pointed out Darian. But Vane tilted his head and positioned his finger in front of his mouth.
"Shh… I know what I'm doing." At the sight of this, the whole group couldn't help but let out a soft laugh while Darian had a worried look over his face, though he was having fun like the others, too.
"Okay… it's time for me to go," said Syrmax. Liro created the two illusions near him.
"Please be alright, Syrmax…" said Liro, but Syrmax nodded his head.
"From what Tyel has told us, I will never find anyone in the magazines. I'll just go there and wait for the panic to spread around the prison… then I'll try to reach you as soon as possible." With that, Syrmax waved once again at the group, and he entered the poster.
"We should not lose any time either… Liro… are you alright with remaining down there?" asked Darian. Before the revolution in the prison actually started, Liro had to remain down in the sanctuary controlling the illusions, and once the plan was finally ready, he would go up and help the others.
"Yes…" Suddenly, Liro fell to his knees as his body had already started to bleed. "We have to be fast… I don't think my power can hold much longer." With that, the group nodded, and they finally reached the stairs.
"Please be alright, everyone…" said Liro as he looked at the group climbing the ladder. The first one to arrive was Vane, as the plan stated that he would smash the trapdoor while in his eagle form. As he hardened his body as much as he could, if Ashikunz was there, he would try to both dodge his hit and, if he were to get hit, try to resist and block the attack.
"Oh… look who's there," whispered Ashikunz as he saw an eagle smashing the entrance from the Sanctuary.
As the group noticed that Vane was alright, they didn't lose any time and all came out. After Vane, the order was as follows: Lily, Orechin, Catripple, Martheel, Tyel, and then, last, Darian.
"Let's see…" Ashikunz glanced around and noticed that the group was smaller than what he knew.
"Someone is missing? I don't know the power of that guy with white hair… but the only one who could have damaged me isn't there," said Ashikunz as he looked at the sun high in the sky and sighed.
"Still, I hoped you would arrive during the night… it would have been easier." With that, Ashikunz assumed an attacking pose as he noticed that Vane was about to rush directly at him, judging by his gaze.
"We know how krukin work… we've studied them enough," said Darian as he took a step forward.
"No power… I'll not kill you; Zrelekai has asked me to keep you alive…" Ashikunz glanced at Darian and noticed that Snowy was sleeping in his hands. "And the creature who gives you power is sleeping, too? You surely have gone cra—" Ashikunz couldn't even finish his sentence before Vane dived toward him at extreme speed.
"Less speaking and more fighting!!" shouted Vane as he rushed toward the enemy with his body hardened. Ashikunz didn't answer and simply got ready to strike Vane.
"Vine walk!" With that, Lily began to rush around. Before doing so, she exchanged a look with Orechin; as he nodded his head, a huge smirk appeared on Lily's face. Knowing that her back was covered, she started to rush around as small roots appeared around Ashikunz.
'I'll slice the eagle and then the—' Ashikunz was about to slice Vane in half when suddenly some of the roots that emerged from the ground… were holding a green crystal!
"What?" Ashikunz suddenly changed targets, and rather than going for Vane, he rushed for the green crystal, as he was scared that they might steal his stamina.
"Orechin, it's time for our plan," said Lily as two small roots emerged from the ground. Orechin nodded his head and created two green crystals—one for each root—and the roots began to hold them tightly.
"Are you sure this will work? Won't the soil smash the crystals?" asked Martheel, worried that the plan might fail. But Lily shook her head.
"Don't worry, the soil isn't very strong. The roots will reach Ashikunz without any problem… we just need coordination… and everything will be perfect." As Lily finished speaking, Orechin was smirking.
"And if he goes for the green crystals… he'll have a small surprise…" whispered Orechin as he looked at the green crystal, from inside of which something red could barely be seen.
'I don't want to lose stamina already… I'll kill this animal guy later!' While Ashikunz was about to destroy one of the crystals, Vane passed right through his legs.
'Perfect…' thought Vane as he let something fall to the ground: a blue crystal.
'He passed under my legs? Did he leave something? I heard a small so—' Ashikunz had now sliced the green crystals in half, but unexpectedly, there was a red crystal inside them. As it exploded, a thick smog was created around Ashikunz.
"Now," whispered Lily as some small roots appeared on the ground and covered the blue crystal left by Vane.
"Come at me!!" shouted Ashikunz as he cleared the smog away with a clean movement of his spear.
"If you ask for it…" said Catripple as she grabbed multiple feathers between her fingers.
"Feather burst!" Multiple feathers rushed directly at Ashikunz.
'I can slice them easily…' Ashikunz pointed his spear toward the incoming feathers and calculated the timing perfectly. Yet, as the feathers rushed at him, he missed one.
'What?' thought Ashikunz, confused, as he coughed after the feather exploded right in front of his face. Ashikunz glanced around and looked below. 'It was a blue crystal!' With his spear, he tried to strike below him where the roots were located. As his spear pierced the roots, he first pierced a red crystal, and only then the blue crystal.
"What? I heard only one thing falling on the ground!" he shouted before the red crystal exploded. Lily, who had stopped for a moment, laughed softly.
"Obviously… because I had already grabbed the red crystal with my roots," she said with a smirk on her face.
"ARGHH!! I'LL COME AT YOU!!" shouted Ashikunz as he launched himself directly toward Lily. The woman was ready and began to escape again thanks to her vine walk.
"You won't catch me!" said Lily as she dodged Ashikunz's spear attack.
"You won't escape for long!" Before Ashikunz actually threw the spear, he looked at Orechin. 'He's about to create a blue crystal…' thought Ashikunz as he read Orechin's expression perfectly. 'Let's launch the spear and then kill him with my claws…' The moment Ashikunz launched his spear, exactly as he had prepared, a blue crystal was placed between the krukin and Lily.
"Exactly as planned." Instead of rushing to grab the spear, Ashikunz turned back and rushed directly toward Orechin.
"You won't! Tsunami!" shouted Martheel as a huge tsunami appeared right in front of Ashikunz, who was taken by surprise.
'He can use water magic? Then he isn't an alterid?' Ashikunz positioned his hands in front of his face. 'I can't allow water to enter my armor…'
"Waterfall!!" Suddenly, above Ashikunz, water appeared and fell right on top of him.
"Shit!" shouted Ashikunz. As the water entered his armor, his mind drifted to something that had happened a long time ago.
"I TOLD YOU! HAVING A HUMAN ALLY IS DUMB!!"
Three hundred years ago, Ashikunz was still on the black planet, surrounded by all the black defenders—except for Eyrunik, who had been born only a few weeks prior and was training outside.
Currently, Ashikunz wasn't wearing the armor, and his body was totally different from what it is now. His skin looked rougher, and his face looked stranger, as he had multiple parts of his skin charred.
All the black defenders were sitting on huge chairs around an extremely long table, and the krukin were speaking in their language so that the human couldn't hear them.
"But it's thanks to him that we haven't been attacked!" shouted Garwhole. He was the only one who wasn't sitting in a chair, standing with his feet on the table instead, as he was too short for the chair.
"He's right," answered Mantblast, who had his weapon and shield next to his chair. "Do you remember what he told us? About the nuclear bombs?" he added.
"You can't go against him, Ashikunz. He gave us multiple secret paths at the start of the war that helped us push the humans away," said Banaikuj. "These foolish humans… they can't do much against us anymore… He isn't foolish… he knows how to win a war. We need him," he added.
Ashikunz looked even angrier.
"I agree with you… but… it's his methods that aren't right. Before, it was fine when we only fought against the soldiers…" said Rhihamr as he gritted his teeth. "But now he has gone crazy. He wants to kill and eliminate innocent people, too!"
"BUT WE HAVE TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE TOO!!" shouted Ashikunz as he rose from his chair. "IT'S A FUCKING WAR, RHIHAMR! THEY COULD HAVE KILLED OUR INNOCENT PEOPLE! WE CAN'T BACK DOWN ANYMORE!" Ashikunz, in rage, smashed his fist on the table before turning away.
"You don't want to listen to me?" Ashikunz wasn't looking at his brothers anymore. "These humans have hurt our mother… they guided their planet to hit her…" Ashikunz closed his fist in anger.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about that day two hundred years ago…" As Ashikunz mentioned this day, the whole room turned quiet. Everyone on the black planet remembered that day, the exact moment they crashed against the Earth.
"They first hit us with that huge blue thing… and then…" Tears began to flow down Ashikunz's face. "I will never forget the scream of our mother… and without realizing it, we crashed against this planet…"
"But we don't know if it was actually someone fr—" said Rhihamr, but everyone else shouted over him.
"It was obviously a creature from the Earth! Have you seen? They are the only creatures that can use magic like that! Even if we were really far from the Earth and our mother couldn't see it… someone clearly sent our mother to crash against the Earth," said Garwhole in anger.
"But we can't send him away… he has helped us too much," answered Mantblast. The others agreed with him, except Ashikunz.
Suddenly, footsteps approached, and a human with very long white hair and a long purple tunic entered the room.
"Are you all talking about me?" The human looked at the others with an amused expression.
"Phocylides…" whispered Ashikunz at the sight of the human, who was clearly enjoying the expression on Ashikunz's face.