Alix scowled at the boy and swung at him again! Once again, her attack failed to make contact which only served to stoke the flames burning within Alix!
"I assume that you're lashing out due to my poor treatment of my ex? I can assure you that I am quite the gentleman should you get to know me!" The boy smiled at Alix with a gleam in his eye.
Alix's face twisted in disgust. "I could care less about what you did to that girl!" Alix swung her fist fast trying whatever she could to make contact but it was almost like the boy she was fighting was a ghost because nothing she tried hit him!
Vorza's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, this isn't because of the scene just now?"
"No!" Alix screamed as she missed again.
The crowd, that had not yet dispersed, watched the strange altercation with interest and curiosity. They had seen many of Vorza's little "break-up shows" but this was the first one that turned into a fight with someone from the crowd?!
It was so...entertaining! The crowd cheered as they watched the unfolding events!
Vorza vanished from Alix's sight onto a stool next to a nearby stall. "If it isn't because you were displeased with the show then, why are you trying to hit me? You're not one of my old exes, are you? No, that's impossible. I remember all of them!"
"Just shut up and get hit!" Alix lunged at the boy. She clapped her hands to activate the affect of her gloves. They sparked like a flint to steel, setting Alix's hands ablaze right as she swung at the boy again!
"Oh no!" Vorza yelped as Alix's fist smashed against his cheek harder than anything he'd ever been hit with before! Vorza flew off of the stool into a fruit stall nearby!
"Oooh!" The crowd winced as rubble, dust, and apples shot through the air due to the impact. Vorza moaned in pain. His cheek was burned and bruised from Alix's flaming punch!
"That stung..." Vorza looked up from the ground where he saw Alix glaring down at him. "C-Could we perhaps call things even after that? I'm seeing little suns from how hard you hit me!"
Alix cracked her knuckles wordlessly. She reached down and picked up the boy by his neck. The muscles in her arm flexed for everyone to see! Vorza gulped from the burning look in the girl's eyes. Alix finally opened her mouth to growl a single question.
"How dare you do that to me?"
"W-what do you mean?" Vorza asked fearfully. "Th-this is the first time we've met!"
Alix squeezed the boy's neck tighter! Not enough to make him unable to breath but it definitely made it harder to do so! "Exactly! We've never met! So what gives you the right to use your magic on me as you please?"
Vorza's eyes went wide. "How did you-"
Alix smirked. "So you admit it!" She squeezed Vorza's neck even tighter then slammed him into the ground! Vorza coughed up saliva! He hit the dirt hard enough to knock the wind out of a dragon!
In that moment, the sweet smell in the air disappeared. Alix could no longer hear the leaves rustling in her ear nor could she see pollen dust flying through the air! The mystic's spell had been broken.
The crowd, now freed from their strange captivation, woke from their uncontrollable cheering!
"What the?"
"How did we get here?"
"Ah damn it! Vorza got us again! He used a mysticism spell to manipulate our emotions!"
"Master Amalgamate isn't going to be pleased with the boy!"
"No, he always lets him off with a warning! Why does Vorza get such special treatment!"
Alix let go of the boy's neck and let out a refreshing breath. "That feels much better." She turned around and retrieved Mo's fish bowl from the man that she'd been talking to earlier. "Thank you for holding him for me. I did not want him to get hurt due to my own anger."
The man nodded. "No problem! I'm just sorry that you got here only to be pulled into one of Vorza's little shows! Though..." Alix and the man looked over to Vorza who was still laying on the ground in pain. "...I'm sure he regrets pulling you in even more!"
Alix nodded in agreement. "You said that you'd tell me where I could find information about the Mystic earlier." Alix jumped right back into the conversation where she'd left off.
"Oh, right! You just have to go to the temple over yonder!" The man pointed to a large tower in the center of town. "That's where you'll find the master! Things are usually pretty packed right around now so, I wouldn't expect to be able to see 'em. That is where they would be though!"
Alix inspected the distant tower. She couldn't get much information from this distance but she could see what looked like smoke coming out of the window at the top! "Thank you, that shall be our next destination then." The man gave Alix a thumbs up then went on his way.
Alix looked down to Mo's fishbowl where she saw the fish frowning at her. She could tell what he was trying to say. "You always leave me behind whenever you get in a fight!"
Alix looked at him apologetically. "I just didn't want you to get hurt! With the bond broken, I'm not sure if you're still able to breathe air? We have to be careful until I can get my ability back...If I can get my ability back?" A somber silence sat in the air and water separating Mo and Alix.
Could she get her ability back?
She still didn't know where it came from nor why it was her of all people that had it? An ability based upon forming connections with others was given to a girl that had no interest in connecting with anyone! It was like the god Daligo decided to mess with her himself!
Giving her a unique ability that she didn't want or ask for, making it the thing that completes her spell, and then taking it away completely out of nowhere to make her realize that she needed it!
Alix gritted her teeth. 'I don't have time for this! I need to get moving!' Alix pushed any thoughts unrelated to the Amalgamate Mystic to the back of her mind and marched toward the temple. Why did she have the ability? Where did it go? What happened to Tyrant and the others?
None of that mattered!
"The only things that matter are my revenge and my never-ending thirst for magic!" Alix's eyes narrowed with focus. She had no further patience for anything that wasn't related to her magic or revenge, her monsters also included!
She made no effort to avoid the people that walked down the same streets as her. They grunted as she shoved past them as though they were no different from the wind blowing against her!
"Ugh, hey!"
"Watch it!"
"Ow! Rude?!"
They glared at the rude girl but Alix paid them no mind. They were not important!
Mo looked at Alix through his fishbowl with worry.
'Lexi...' He thought to himself. 'Always focused on the end goal. Doesn't she realize that pushing her problems to the back of her mind won't get rid of 'em?' Mo took another look at Alix and sighed.
'Of course she doesn't!' Mo shook his head solemnly. 'All I can do is stay by her side like I promised. Even if I can't really do much right now...' The fish stared blankly at his fins.
Alix wasn't the only one that lost her ability. Earlier, while Alix was fighting that Var..zo guy? Mo had tried to use the Abyssal Sea to assist her but couldn't connect to the source within himself!
Something in this place was interfering with his connection to the Abyssal Sea, something that Mo didn't think was possible? He'd always been able to use the sea whenever he wanted!
So why now? And not to mention...
Mo rested a fin on his underbelly, right where his Ether Heart would be. 'Something feels...weird inside of me? Ever since we got here, it's felt like something has been...moving within my body? Ugh, this place is so annoying!!' Mo slapped the glass of his fishbowl hard and instantly regretted it as a wave of pain rushed into the very same fin!
Mo and Alix, currently disconnected in thought but still together in the physical world! Both of them struggling with things that they didn't understand while wandering through a place that was foreign to them! Needless to say, they were not enjoying this leg of the journey...
Hopefully, visiting this temple that, supposedly, belonged to the Master Mystic would make thing at least a little better!