Walled City of Dragona


    As soon as the air quake stopped, the screams of the players on a particular cell began to echo the hall of warriors. The group on that cell led by the experienced gladiators gathered in one corner, away from the chained being of darkness with nothing but black smoke as skin.The man tied there in the corner with both the ethereal and physical chainscame back with a teleport light a few hours ago. The man had been quiet as if dead since then.


    His smoky liquid hair was covering his face and though he looked as if his skin isblacker than night in this murky darkness,as they can tell that he''s made up of smoke, they could quicklyclear out what kind ofexpression he''s having on his darkened face. It''s as if the monster in front of them actually had an expression, the darkness served as its natural light compared to them.


    It is indeed a vexing feeling.


    They could tell his facefrom his neckin the darkness and what little expressions he had under that blanket of black smokewas illuminated bythe help of thedancing torch light.


    Thechiseled jaw oftheman was noticeable. One could even say that his entire complexion in the blacknesswas like an NPCGod that ruled the dark.It was a cheat, as a few of them could see. Even if we put the Apollo''s distinctivephysique into account,how could a manbe so handsome in this game was the cheat on all man-kind in itself.The slender neck, the broad shoulders, the tight and fitted muscles on his blades and upper torsos were still recognizable behind the torn up clothes. It''s likethe fire''sglowitself is the sole light of which could cancel the blackness of his curse.


    Looking closely in one angle, he could be seen as peacefully sleeping. Eyes closed, with his breathing being heardlike low snores of a child. Siva''s motionless body dangled like a crucified man. He let no movement escape his muscles, not a single movement could be seen on hisbounded arms. Tiredness on the struggles he had to endure, he lay there motionless,head bowed down,the chains used tocarry his body.


    He slumped his body up front like asleeping drunken man. And while it alllooked as if he was a safe, harmless prisoner, a horrifying feeling was crawling on every man''s skin on that cell since earlier on.


    On every cell close to theirs, screams of bellowed along the walls of the underground prison. Cries of agony and fearechoed,like hearing the vibrating voices of the dying men being burned by the eternal flames of hell.


    "Please! I''ll renounce all my cash and weapons, including mypoints! Please! Get me away from him!"


    "Me too! I''ll do anything! I''ll iron your leather armours! I''ll wash your gym clothes!"


    "I''ll even dry your clothes with my breathe if I have to!"


    "Please, I''ll do anything! let me get out of here!"


    "Help me!"


    "I''m gonna die here! I''m gonna be killed here! Help! HEEELLLLPPP!!"


    "I beg you, just do something, anything,about him!"


    They were looking at him, or his general direction, with fingers pointed or their cries bent towards him, they wereasking to be freed and howled like mad animals. The NPC gladiators who was there with them wanted to change cells as well,for the prisoners'' cries of agony had long been going on for hours. Some of the stronger guards banged their weapons and shields on the iron bars just to silence the screaming men and also to escape their fears and hide it under the pretense of doing their jobs.Yet the prisoners neversilenced. It only made them more aggressive on the thought that the guards are hearing their pleads and yells of requests.


    There are others who remembered their desire to escape and there areothers as well whose thecursed chains of restriction had began to hug them like a blanket. Someeven hadtheir bodiesso low on the ground that they seemed to hug and kiss the dirty floor. The thought of escape itself and the chains that hugged them seemed to feel more like a security than the thought of imprisonment with that monster on this small confined space.


    But despite it all, there are still those who had the guts to be calm and glare at him..... one of them, on a cell at the very far end of the hall, is even excited to test how far he''d go if they fight in the arena.


    Gold, slantedeyes glaring as sharply as a dagger on one''s throat, The Predatorsat onhisbedsideas he rubbed the smoothened curves of his cufflinks. In the darkness, he looked like astalker looking at the dark side of his room, seeing beyond the walls,isolating the cascading howls of pain,with onlyhisgolden eyesseen inthe blackness of the cell walls.


    Then, in some weird manner, after what felt to be an endless amount of time staring at the monster''s general direction, the subject he''s been trying to send that glaring message to opened his eyes.


    And with it,a loud and silencingscreamrang without a warning.


    "IIIIIIIIIIII... HAAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEEEEE... YOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!"


    The black liquid smoke suddenly began to condense around him, like vapor escaping his body after a warm hot bath. What seemed to look like smoke took shape and began to be noticeable. Blacker than the blackness of the room, darker than the shadows cast by the torches'' fires.


    The dancing lights of the torches suddenly became still and after a few moments, one by one, began to wave and die off. The noises of the NPCs and other players who had sensitive feelings came to an abrupt stop. Bubbles came from their mouths andbeads of sweat formed in theiranimated expressions.The guards felt the cold metal of their armours just became colder and the silence of the entire prison floor was like poison to the blind.


    Around the fortress, in the barns in the city, in the monster-infested areas that surrounds Dragona, monsters began to howl towards the city''s direction.


    Underneath thebrick and cemented foundations ofthe ancient cannon--andtheplanet''s largest weapon ever built--ina secret lair of the city at which even the Elders do not know,an empty, dirty space on the floor lighted with an emblem. In a room with swords stabbed on the ground, paintings on the walls and ceilings, symbols of unknown origins written on forgotten scripts and books and scrolls--a room oozing withprofound malice floating like thick dark smoke from unknown spirits of its dead practitioners... the light on the floor took shape of that emblem.


    A smiling moon with a star in the middle, crying a tear that formed its whole.


    The emblem was 10m wide, overtaking half the circumferential area of the entire floor, its lines glowed orange and became as red asblood within a moment. In its surroundings, the free-floating mass ofgaseous presences began to stand and take shapearound the symbol withthe blood red glow rising highfollowed byanother quake. Outside the walls of Dragona, towards the sea, towards the nearest mountain range a few tens of kilometrons away, towards the deepest part of the largest forest, on every ancient-looking forgotten temples andundiscovered caves,came roars of monsters of unspeakable sixes. Their roars terrified even the S-Ranked monsters near them, all the more those players who happen to have been close to where they were.


    There was no denying. The players felt their immediate presence.


    Inside the city, bodies froze and they stopped whatever their activities. Heads turned and looked around. Everybody began to murmur and some even thought that there was another event.


    In their surprise, the large cannon began to move.The rattling noises of rusted metals forced by an unknowncommanding voice.It started aiming its open boreto the sea, towards the open ocean, towardsthe blue sky and the soft-looking clouds afar. Thedarkness of its borebegan to take a blood redlightas the glow of the emblem on that secret floor deep down below the city alsobegan to condense its light.


    Then, without any kind of warning, with the Elders whose supposed to have been offline, had began to log in one by one due to the warnings they received on their communicators, everysoul presentat the time was surprised as the blood red glow of the bore fired at that one direction.


    A concentrated form of energy emitting a blinding deep red glow, it surged forth at a breath taking sub-light speed and parted the oceans and even the sky.


    In the city, no one could explain what had just happened but in the moments that had passed since the cannon was fired, the emblem on the floor shattered like glass, the spirits whose purposefor lingering for thousands of years vanishing completely,for what and why they existed, they served their aim.The ancient cannon died out as if nothing happened. Still, what made all the people turned their eyes to the sea wasn''t the fact that the cannon fired but because it fired at something.


    ...and that something was but a dot of explosion on the horizon when the beam of energy hit.


    Yet, this shortcommercial was short-lived. For as soon as they realized that the cannon had just fired at a warship, an explosion from within the city hadsnatched their attention, along with a warning message on their sights that no one present in Dragona at this time would ever forget.


    <u>--------------------------------------------


    </u>Chapter 39: Hubert


    <u>---------------------------------------------


    </u>


    Main Bridge -The Archangel


    --a few moments before


    The crew of The Archangel are yet to settle from their own internal turmoil. Thorn yelled orders to his pilot crewto maintain operation of his shipwhile their guests and the Archmage Scion''s subjectsbickered over what had just transpired.


    All of them wondered over the details of that cinematic video.


    Within the back of the main bridge was a smallarea for immediate briefing. In there were the people who had gathered together bydifferent reasons but a single task;Henna hadretreated to herprivatespace within the arms ofAgatha and Scion; Loni and FlowerLord, and Samara, were still on each others'' necks; Volt was accompanied by a rarely seen worried face of Hawkeye; while Cramer, who just logged back in because of thesmell of an impendingfight and was noisily laughing ona corner, was with Hubert whose whereabouts couldn''t be known untilnow, and were seated there casually observing the scene.


    Still, Hubert, clad intheeye-catching knight armor-trademark of the TOS Guild, was as much strong-looking as compared to the striking figure of Cramer. In fact, with his silent demeanor andsecretivepersonality, he wasboth attractive and also mysterious at the same time.His squinty eyes and plain hair style was also a compliment, and he looked like ahunk who had just been in the right place and the right time when his exquisite styleof swordsmanshipcaught the eye of Thorn during his personal recruitment.


    Yet, with the way Cramer showed a kind of distance and respect to his manner of speech with him, not only it looked likeHubert was a little bit off with his superior-like presence, it also made him look stronger and more mature compared to the rest of the TOS Guild.


    Still, ever since Henna had returned, Volt had noticed that he''s been sending fleeting glances over the general direction of the three cuddled women. He doesn''t know if he hadhis eyes setfor Scion or Agatha, but he was sure he wasn''t looking at Henna withromantic glances. More like, he felt as if he was watching over her, or, perhaps, deep in Volt''s mind, Hubert was just waiting for something.


    Nonetheless, the fact that there is a more importantmatter to think about right now than any other things, he had his mind set to deducing the after images that still lingered on his mind ever since the hidden cinematic ended.


    Beside him was his sister, Hawkeye,pouting and gently pulling his sleeve. She had already used her ultimate weapon, the "cat pout", but to no avail. Volt was still caught up with his thoughts about Henna and her [Eye of Origin], thehidden movie, the ''Guardians'' of the beautiful woman in that video, the wayHubert looked at Henna, and the fact that they were all here because of Rex.


    And remembering him, the guilt and sense of responsibility he feel for Rex and his circumstances, and the fact that of all the people with different circumstances that he''d meet, he met Rex, Volt''s inner turmoil led him to actually thinking twice about that fleeting dreadfulfeeling about this game.


    "Siva..." He whispered and clutched his hands on his chin tighter.


    This is just a game. Just how much are were sticking our noses in this business?


    As Volt wondered on these thoughts, he kept his eyes fixated into the void within that distance. The walls on the bridge aren''t that far apart but his distant stare while seated on the couch made his sister pout even more.


    "Kuya." said a tiny voice beside him and Hawkeye pulled his sleeve to forcefully snatch his attention.


    "Hm? Not now." Turning his head as he noticed a harder pull, he looked at his sister and dismissed the adorable gesture.


    "I feel a little tingly."


    "Tingly?"


    Hawkeye nodded. "I feel like I wanna shoot something."


    "What''s wrong with you? Should you just log out?"


    Turning her head sideways, Hawkeye stood up energetically and pulled up her bow. At this point, by the rules of the game regarding warships'' neutral and safe zoneswhen--and when not--in war, Volt saw something that made him frown.


    "Kuya," Hawkeye pointed at the MOD installed on her bow. "It''s been making this sparky tingly urge ever since the cinematics ended. It''s like I wanna release arrows so much without astop."


    Volt, forgetting all other thoughts,examined the glow and he frowned even more as he felt the slight vibration on the bow as soon as he touched the glowing MOD. "This is weird." He said and raised his head to her. "And you say it''s sending you some sort of urge to shoot arrows?" Hawkeye nodded.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    He stood up and found Samara who was stilldiscussing about thepoints shehad noticed during the cinematics with FlowerLord and Loni. Without a word, he grabbed her left shoulderas shesilently turned toher left arm with the gloves that held the cannons steady.


    "Are you feeling some sort of urge to shoot right now?" Volt askedhastily.


    "What the... what''s wrong with you? It''s rude to butt in when women are talking!" Samara frowned in and so Volt had to ask again, ignoring the glare she stabbed at him.


    "I mean, do you want to shoot rightnow?" As ifrealizing late the awkwardness of his question, Volt released his hand on her shoulder and took a step back and motioned to the other two."Do you guys feel like you want to use your weapons so much? As in right now? at this instant?"


    "As in?" Samara returned to the other two women. "Yeah most definitely. I wanna vaporize these twoout of this world so I won''t have to see their fetid faces again." After the rhetoric, she beamed a mischievous smile as she prepared a pose to shoot.


    "Fetid?!" "Me?!" The two other women reacted violently.


    As weapons were readied,spells were cast, Thorn stepped in and was poised to stop them when Volt had made it first and yelled out in a loud voice.


    "Everyone, I need to see your weapons."


    "What for?" Asked Loni, frowning.


    Volt looked at Hawkeye and saw that the glow on the MOD installed in her bow was a few luxbrighter than before. Looking at it, the rest never minded the gesture and pulled their weapons, even including Hubert and Cramer--most especially Cramer who made a remarkable comment.


    "Whoa! This is...!! A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!"


    The ones who had a glow on their weaponswere only Hawkeye, Cramer, Hubert, Maki--at the far back who pulled out a pair of daggers and just watched over them silently, and Thorn who did not pull up a weapon but rather looked down to the center ofthe chest armor he pulled out. The rest of those who pulled out their weapons doesn''t have the same glow as emitted by the weapons wielded by the five of them.


    "I see." Fuma said, massaging his chin.


    Volt faced Thorn. As he hadn''t spoken to the rest of the TOS Guild members, and even if it''s againsthis sense of pride, he raised the first question that rose up to his mind as soon as he saw their weapons. He looked at those who had MODs on their weapons one by one and asked:


    "Do you feel some sort of urge to use them?"


    Blinking twice, Cramer from the back looked athisGreat Axe and thefaint blue glow it radiated on the point that melded the handle and the blade had somewhat made him smile as henodded at him. It was Thorn, who wore the armor with the swipe of his hand on his panel, that answered his question after a reaffirming noise came from the people around them.


    "Now that you mentioned it, as soon as I wore it, I feel a lot more... powerful."


    Cramer agreed."It''s somewhat warmer than usual." He said and looked at the silent Hubert whowas lookingat his Longsword.


    "Kuya!" Turning around, Volt saw Hawkeyeand directly looked at her bow. The faint blue light became noticeably brighter andan aura ofsparks began tofly outlike lightning in all directions.


    All of the MOD ownershad their weapons emitting an aura, with Thorn being a lot cooler, with the blue aura even brighter and noticeable than when being activated and used.


    Cramer''slarge weaponalso glowed blue as the owner''s eyes came wider in both surprise and unmistakable excitement. Instead of letting their weapons go, they all felt a little different as Volt took this opportunity to study their expressions.


    It was then that the brightest of lights came to the least noticeable corner, away from their group, to the other three women gathered there.


    "Amanda!"


    When they all heard FlowerLord''s scream, eyes immediately turned to their direction and saw what could only be said as impossible in this game. The [Eye of Origins], a MOD withits unique white glow, was floating a few inches away fromher chest and the [Spirit] named Terra was shadowing her from behind like an after image of a mirage. Scion''s eyes were not the normal silvery purple she had but was awhitely blanklike Terra''s. Henna waskneeling on the floor, bow in hand, crying, whileFlowerLord was in a state of panic and calling her friend.


    "Amanda! Wake up! Hey! this isn''t fun anymore!"


    Voltran immediately beside her while Thorn and Loni went to get Henna.


    Scion''s hair was floating freely as if submerged into water andTerra''s bright shadow of light behind her raised her hand that Scion imitated at the same time.


    "What''s happening to her!" FlowLord yelled at Agatha as she was the only one who was there still able to talk normally.


    "I-I..."


    "Hey! She didn''t do anything wrong!" Samara went on Agatha''s defense and raised her cannon to poise a hammer strike at FlowerLord. "Don''t point your finger aimlessly without a reason."


    FlowerLord shifted to Henna at which she saw her crying and kept kneeling down. Ignoring Loni''s glare and the arrow positioned to be pulled, she knelt down with controlledhastiness and did her best to ask her nicely.


    "What happened here?"


    The crying Henna looked at her, lips trembling, and spoke. "I''m sorry. I''ve had enough of this game."


    Without as much as a warning, Henna swiped the air and summoned her player window. With expert and quick touches, all her equipment and items, cash and resources ID TAG, were all lumped in a bundle of treasure in front of her as she stood up and logged out. Loni and Thorn couldn''t do anything to stop her as they were all caught up on the event that transcribed in front of them.


    Terra''s raised hand pointed gentlyat the bowof the ship as the tip of her index finger formed the shape of Scion''s hand. Scion''s index shone a gentle sparkle and just as soon as it did, one of the crew who never minded the commotion at the back shouted a devastating report.


    [Highly CondensedMagical Energy Detected!!]


    "What?!" Thorn, in horror, stood and was about to run to the main bridgebut upon the first note after the report was made, the follow up report came with not as much as a moment to gasp.


    [Large-scale Destruction Spell cast!]


    "Deploy shields at full power!"


    [We don''t have time, captain! It''s converging too fast!]


    "That''s impossible!" Fuma screamed as he was the only one nearest to the control panels. "My God! This is a Class of its own. I''ve never seen anything like it, Thorn!" Thorn bit his lower lip. Then, as Fuma returned his gaze to the panel... "(Shit!) It''s coming! Bear for impact!"


    It was short.


    It was loud.


    It was the brightest blood light any person could see in his entire life. The bright blue skybeyond the windows of the bridge were replaced in an instant with the vermillion color of what they processed is an offensive magic. Everyone knew what was happening. No one knew how and why.


    The wind vibrated with the sound of melting metal, rattling the magical engine''s cores from within due to the over exposureof concentrated malicious MNA. The floor they stoodshook and threw the crew, disarrayed of where is left and right,and they all felt the end for their careers at that moment.


    Everyone closed their eyes as a reflex of their impending doom but only Hubert, stolid and composed, never took his eyes away from her.


    Terra''s stretched hand controlled the movements of Scion''s avatar and the player whose supposed to have been the one controlling that body was nowhere to be felt from those gentle moves. The Archangel is a warship, a hundred or so metrons long with wings that served like a fish. Its shape was inspired by the [Sphinx], without the head and with both feet joined together in the middle as if a begging lion.


    From an inconceivable visual distance, the blood red ray of lightwhich size had surpassed even the Archangel''s total wingspan swallowed the ship and hit a giant invisible wall-like shell. Hubert stood there calmly, staring at her actions, his left hand to the hilt of his sword. Scion''s finger tip touched an invisible water''s surface in the blankness of the air and thespaces around her finger rippled as if following that origin of thought. Within those short moments, the red light beam of malicious aura lost its force, disappearing in thereflection of the ocean''s blue-ness like particles of sand.


    The parted ocean returned to its original flattened surface, leaving a tilted ship slowly falling towards its face. With the waves clashing from left and right, the large violent tides looked like large maws of a monster ready to eat the Archangel whole. And, along with it, another event happened inside the white wingedwarship.


    Hubert''sMOD-equipped weaponglowed even brighter and the aura that surrounded his body told him that the two events were connected one way or another.


    Volt opened his eyes when he felt that something passed by him and it was there that he saw Hubert walking briskly towards Scion.


    "You!" Hubert glanced at him with an insignificant stare and moved smoothly between the rambling objects and people thrown off their feet. Volt himself was lodged off his foundations as Hawkeye and Samara tumbled on him, screaming at the ends of their lungs. "Wait! What are you doing?"


    "This is my mission."


    Within a moment after his words, an emblem of a dragon chasing its own tail appeared on his cape and the vermillion colored sky outside dissipated along the thought of horror. He punched Scion''s stomach andshe lost her balance, lumping over his arm like a dead body. Terra''s image disappeared along the rattling noises of the ship with the lights of their MOD-equipped weapons vanishing along his actions.


    "Hubert!" Yelled Thorn from behind Volt. "What is the meaning of this."


    "The Blue Card demands her. I am merely following a quest."


    "Quest? With a character as a pivot? Impossible! Such a thing is..."


    "You are too focused on the game, Captain. You have forgotten what we are all here about."


    With a wave of his sword, the tilted, disarrayed, imbalanced ship got a hole on its portside and as soon as the hole was struck by his powerful blow, the wind pressure of the ship from within threw some of the players and crew out to the open ocean.


    The dissipating heat of the blood red beam had killed most of them while those whose lucky not to catch the melting heat of that attack was swallowed by the ocean''s tidal waves.


    And to the blue sky outside,painted by the scattering red particles of remaining magic, Hubert''s stolid and emotionless expression looked at his crew one last time before he totally corrected their thoughts of betrayal.


    "I shall be taking my leave here, Captain. If you want her back, find the Blue Card."


    "No, wait...!! Hub---"


    Without hesitation, Hubert turned around and jumped off the hole of the ship. Carrying Scion on his shoulder, a magical circle appeared on his feet and swallowed him whole along with his captive.


    Their bodies disappeared as they entered the magical circle. And as fast as it appeared, the circle itself alsovanished and left only blue particles of light to where it was supposed tobe.


    Volt and Thorn gently pushed off the people that''s on top of them and followed Hubert and glanced off the edge of the hole of thetilted ship.


    "Gone." Said Volt. "Th-They''re gone..."


    "Hubert."


    With a pained expression, Thorn clenched his fist on his side. As he held his foundation steady at the edge of thedamaged ship, he clutched the metal harder until it dented on his grip. Volt looked at him blankly, thinking how fast the events had happened. But even more so, he felt something more dreadful near them. He turned around and saw her angry face.


    She saw everything, thought Volt miserably. Black orbs appeared around her as her glaring eyes fixated on Thorn.


    "I shouldn''t have trusted you!!!"


    "Please let me expl..."


    "Never!"


    The orbs formed into dark spears and launched directly to the defenseless and surprised Thorn. But as soon as he was about to be hit, the spears stopped in midair and vanished just like smoke in midair. Volt, Thorn, Loni, Cramer, and everyone who had just been witnesses tothat sudden friendly assault, all looked at a forgotten side of that control room, fixated on the chair, and firmly looking at all of them.


    Fuma, who was on the other side of the control bridge, spoke amazed. "Cancellation Magic. Rank-5, AOE-typemagic.Very rare and very hard to enchant. Truly worthy of being in the Illuminati."


    "Everyone! This is all your fault!" Yelled Cassiopeia angrily. "If you hadn''t gone after mymaster, you all should have been fine as you were! Now, look at everyone of you! Everything that happened here is all because you were going after my master with all your personal reasons!"


    "And who gave you the right to speak on his behalf!" Yelled FlowerLord and moved her hand to summon another batch of dark spheres but nothing appeared. "What?!"


    "It''s pointless," Fuma spoke and helped a crew member up. "This is [Void Space] Magic. The very first multi-lateral anti-spell and anti-curse magic.Researched, discovered, and developedby the current acknowledged strongest Witch in Terroa." Upon his words, everyone of them looked at Cassiopeia with a look of disbelief and wariness. "Once cast," On this part, Cassiopeia remained calm and composed as she maintained a firm grip on a necklace on her grasp. "themagic will cancel all types ofattack and defensive spells... including Dark Tech."


    As Dark Tech is a fusion of DarkMatter, a black-magic material that is so rarely owned by the [Demons], and of the current Human-Terran Magic and Technology advancedments, this simplified logic had portrayed its message to FlowerLord. So in her rage, and wanting to get revenge to this betrayal to the one who should be taking responsibility, she only thought of two people who could help ease her anger--forgetting the fact that they''ve always had each others'' throats until now.


    "You!" FlowerLord first pointed a finger at Samara. "You attack her!"


    Samara flattened her eyes and drew a victorious smile at her lips. "Why should I?"


    FlowerLord gritted her teeth and looked at Loni who then disarmed herself and pretended she never actually had the bow with her in the first place. Face red in humiliation and rage, she glared at Thorn and then summoned Dark Spear''s basic form--the sword [Ceres].


    She lunged an attack to Thorn but Thorn remained composed. Instead of meeting her attack, it was Volt who guarded him and pushed her back with a parry.


    "You''re taking his side on this?!"


    "I''m not taking sides of anyone!"


    "Then don''t get in my way!"


    "You should just stay calm and let us talk about this."


    "Fuck you and your calmness! It''s all your fault!" Pointing a finger at Thorn, she lunged another attack that was parried again by Volt. For every attack she made, her movements became slower. And for each and every time, she was getting further and further away from the hole of the ship.


    Finally, when it seemed that she had exhausted her strength, she paused to catch her breath while glaring at Volt in front of her.


    Volt maintained his vigilance, his sword down, tip facing the ground in a relaxed stance.


    "She... she is my best friend. She''s not a gamer. She''s also in pain because of that damned Rex. You gave her the hopes of seeing him again but look at what you''ve done! You''ve put her up in this mess you created!"


    "..."


    Volt wasn''t able to reply. Those words wasn''tmeant for him. "Stop this, please, miss Efel."


    Catching three breaths, FlowerLordknelt down and lowered her gaze. Tears began to fall on her cheeks and she dropped all effort to land a strike on him. Her sobs were painful. Agatha and Kathleen Brew went to pick her up. Loni approached her as well wearing a look of apology.


    "Please believe me, we are not aware of what Hubert had been planning all along. We knew him as a silent Knight and a fierce combatant who supported our goals to its very core."


    "Then why did he kidnapped her?"


    "That... I don''t know."


    FlowerLord, realizing it all that it was no one''s fault, wiped her tears with her sleeve. She looked at Cassiopeia and she hid the talisman on her grasp. The invisible cage of wind that swallowed half of the ship disappeared and FlowerLord sheathedher sword to a scabbard before dismissing it into her inventory. After that, their eyes averted to Thorn, who remained on the hole, deep in thought, looking beyond towards the bow of the Archangel.


    "Captain." called Loni.


    Thorn, with his white cape fluttering into the wind, tightened his grip on the edge of the broken wall and then looked beside him and replied.


    "Standby and preparefordocking procedures."


    FlowerLord frowned at his words. "Docking?! You gotta be kidding me! After they attacked us?"


    "It wasn''t them who attacked us." replied Thorn and turned completely to face everyone. "It was something else." It was here that they all saw what lies ahead of them. Behind Thorn, to the wide arch of land after a long travel on the sea, was a burning city. Black smokes were coming from its confines and it was creating grey clouds that spelled rain.


    "Wha...?!"


    "Dragona is..."


    "What''s attacking Dragona?"


    "Is this part of the event?"


    "Dragona, in ruins?"


    Questions were raised but no answers were given. They took their own positions to look at the burning city. The saltymoisture of the ocean air bid an after taste of burned ashes. And it was then that after a while, Fuma, who was in the control panels all these time, yelled to a report.


    "Incoming transmission from Dragona."


    "Who is it?" Asked Thorn.


    "It''s Elder Donna."


    Thorn thought for a moment then he met FlowerLord''s bewildered look. "I will personally make sure that Archmage Scion will be rescued." He told her and then turned to Fuma. "Patch it through."


    With a blink, a large holographic display popped at the front side of the bridge. In it was a woman''s facewith shaggy hair dressed in pirate clothes. She looked like she had just been in a fight and there were a few bruises that could be seen on her face.


    [I am Elder Donna, keeper of the Walled City of Dragona. Are you the captain of The Archangel?"


    "I am Thorn of the Tower of Sol Guild. Yes I am the captain of this vessel. We wish to dock at your stations however, it seems that you are ina bad shape as much as ours. What is happening?"


    Donna hesitated for a moment but it was for only a fragment of a secondbecause the next expression she made betrayed her origins and her status. "Please, save us. He..." She wasn''t able to finish her words since the background of what looked like the operations room of Dragona was ruined by an explosion that miraculously preserved the angle and quality of the static video.


    No one reacted. They were all astounded.


    "He''s here!" Shouted Donna in fright. "HE-HELP!!! HELP US!!!"


    In the video that they were receiving, the walls of the operations room were destroyed and there was a lone figure of a man draped in a liquidred and black aura.


    "That''s..."


    "Mas... ter...?"


    "No... it''s not Siva. That''s not Rex at all."


    The figureof the man on the holo-screen had a burning body. His body was black, made of liquid smoke. But his face was different and it had a menacing smile. A sadistic murderous grin that made even Cramer swallow and doubt his memory.


    "Is that... The Destroyer?"


    And as ifCramer''s voice was heard, thebeing who was too focused on slaughtering thepeople in the operations room looked at them and smiled as he crushed Donna''s neck.


    [My name is not Sivabut yes, I will destroy everything. Haha...... Haha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....]


    His laughter echoed in the realistic surround sound of the entire bridge and before anyone could even react to what had happened there, FlowerLord was already off and with her Air Gear already in tow.


    "Efel!"


    "Wait!"


    "Wait for us!"


    "I''m coming too!"


    "Master!"


    "Damn it."


    "Oh this is so exciting!"


    "Fuma, repair the ship''s engine! Follow us immediately in Dragona afterwards!"


    "Yes, Captain!"


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