"I can't believe all of this happened in less than a month…" The group had finally finished updating Catripple about the latest stuff that happened after the other group had arrived in Ardoris.
'And in less than 5 minutes, it's midnight too; we finished almost on time… if I restart the day soon, I won't have any problems,' thought Tyel as he could finally let out a sigh of relief.
"I knew they were using me as bait… but I never thought they would say that I was about to get killed only to bait you," pointed out Catripple. Orechin, while biting his lower lip, nodded his head.
"Exactly… and we wouldn't have had much choice…" pointed out Orechin, turning to Tyel at the end of the sentence like everyone else.
"Except if it weren't for Tyel's power, we would all be dead," added Darian. Vane, next to Tyel, wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
"Well, it just happened… I couldn't sleep and I accidentally used my power…" said Tyel while scratching the back of his head and laughing awkwardly.
"Still, that saved us… Tyel said that Ashikunz would have killed us in less than five minutes," pointed out Orechin. After that, a cold shiver was sent down everyone's spine.
"He's just way too strong… how are we supposed to fight him?" asked Syrmax, worried. Suddenly, the mood in the room shifted, becoming heavier.
"Hey, everyone, you've got me fighting too… I can help you now," said Catripple. "And especially, we have Tyel's friend helping us now too… sorry, I forgot your name," she added.
"Martheel," said the new addition to the group.
Catripple snapped her fingers after hearing that. "Right, Martheel," she said. "I mean, there are two more people."
"…And one less…" said Darian as he looked over at the sleeping Snowy in his hands.
"Are you sure you can fight? Aren't you tired from what Zrelekai has done to you?" said Orechin in a worried tone.
"Hey, calm down; we don't even know what he has done to her," said Lily as she tried to calm him down.
"Nothing too bad… in the first days it was hard, as he never stopped removing my wings to study them… but in this last week he got bored and barely thought about me." After that, a small growl could be heard from Catripple's stomach. "I haven't eaten anything today… but I swear I can fight!"
"Promise me you won't overdo it…" said Orechin as a sad and worried look appeared on his face.
"Don't worry, Orechin… I know what I'm doing." Now Catripple was the one who spoke with a reassuring tone.
"And you, Martheel… you've never fought before; are you sure you are able to do it?" asked Tyel, even more worried, but his friend raised his thumb up. "I'm ready… I've thought about different ways to use my power against that Krukin… I swear I'll be useful!" said Martheel, wearing a proud look.
Tyel let out a soft laugh before getting up on his feet and checking his clock. 'Midnight… it's time,' thought Tyel as he clapped his hands.
"Okay, everyone, I believe it is time for us to go; we can't lose much time," said Tyel. Everyone else got up too, ready to go against their enemy.
"Is it still night?" asked Syrmax, wondering if he would be able to use his power. Tyel nodded his head.
"Sadly, it is still midnight…" said Tyel.
"But it is definitely the best time, right? If we move without making any sound, I don't think he would be able to spot us," pointed out Orechin. Everyone else agreed with him.
"Well, still, we have to find the exit… where are we going from?" asked Catripple. With that, everyone turned to Tyel.
"So? Which is the safest one?" asked the group together.
'What am I even supposed to know…' thought Tyel, slightly annoyed, before turning toward the path that would bring them into the sanctuary again. "Let's just go from where we entered; it's the safest," pointed out Tyel. The group nodded their heads, and they all returned to the sanctuary.
"So this was the place where the Seamstress used to live…" said Lily, amazed, as she had never been there before.
"Mary… not the Seamstress," said Vane as he corrected her. "It was like she didn't want to be the Seamstress anymore…" he added as he watched below with a sorrowful look, remembering that he wasn't able to save her.
"Don't worry, Vane… we will get revenge for her really soon," said Darian as he positioned his hand over Vane's shoulder. Vane nodded his head.
"Right…" Vane raised his eyes and clashed his fists together. "We will go and kick that stupid Krukin's ass!" he shouted. While the others had worried looks before, after Vane spoke, he was able to raise everyone's morale, giving them less worried expressions.
"And so this ladder brings us directly to the top?" asked Catripple, surprised, as she had never seen this ladder before.
"Exactly… and we believe it was the way Mary reached us once we arrived," pointed out Darian as he went up the ladder with only one hand while holding the sleeping Snowy with the other.
"Darian, are you sure you're able to do it by yourself?" asked Syrmax, worried. Darian was the first one to go up the ladder, so in case he fell, the others would do what they could to save him.
'He has saved me multiple times… he has put me over his own safety… I have to repay his debt,' thought Darian as he shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm almost there," he pointed out. As he finally reached the trapdoor, he realized that there was a huge problem.
"Hey… I can't open it by myself." Darian tried to reach the trapdoor with Snowy in his hands, but because of the creature, he didn't have enough strength to push the trapdoor, and he couldn't use his other hand, as he would fall down.
Vane let out an amused sigh before turning into an eagle. "Don't worry, I'll open the path." Vane flew directly toward the trapdoor, and with a simple bump of his head, he was able to open the trapdoor.
Vane was now the first one to go out. As he returned to human form on Karyuz's debris, he stretched out. "Ahh!! Finally, I'm outside," he said as he stretched his arms as much as he could, and then Darian, with the others, finally arrived outside.
"I couldn't realize it before as I was in a rush… but it's so strange to finally be outside. I never believed I would ever reach the desert without any problems," pointed out Martheel as he glanced around, realizing that he could escape and go away from this conflict for his entire life.
"The stars in the sky… the air of the outside… I missed it," said Catripple as she heavily breathed in the air she had missed for almost a month.
"Let's not calm down; we don't know when Ashikunz might arr—" Tyel couldn't even finish his sentence before a creature rushed toward the group with extreme speed and cut Liro's body in half.
"Escape…" these were the last words Liro said before his body stopped breathing as he fell to the ground.
"Ahh!!" shouted Lily. As the group turned toward the creature that had just killed their friend, they all had scared looks.
"Take him!" shouted Lily in fear as multiple roots emerged from the ground and all rushed toward Ashikunz. Even though it was dark, he slashed all of them with a simple swing.
"Not enough…" he said, as the moment he swung his spear, some of Liro's blood splattered onto the group, who looked at it in horror.
"Wouldn't he be unable to see us in the dark? How did this happen? Liro, can you hear me?!" shouted Darian, but Liro wasn't answering him, as he had already passed away.
"You really believed in something this dumb?" said Ashikunz, amused. "Most of us can't see in the dark, yeah, but I don't have any problem," he pointed out.
"Then let's see if you can look like this!" shouted Martheel as he threw multiple bubbles toward Ashikunz's face.
"It's just water… useless," he said as he walked forward slowly without hesitation.
'It might be just water… but not every creature can remain unharmed with water in their eyes!' thought Martheel, his body full of excitement because of his plan. The moment the bubbles exploded, some water entered Ashikunz's eyes and covered his body.
"Here!" shouted Martheel as he believed the water would be able to do something and be an annoyance for Ashikunz, but the Krukin, with water in his eyes, didn't even flinch and arrived in front of Martheel, who remained still, thinking his plan would work.
"You're just stupid." Ashikunz then proceeded to slash off Martheel's head.
'I'll end you!!' thought Vane. As Ashikunz was walking earlier, Vane had turned into an eagle and was now diving directly toward the Krukin's head.
'Someone's coming from above,' thought Ashikunz as he felt some wind going directly toward him. As he moved his head, he realized that Vane had already turned into a polar bear and was landing directly on top of his head.
Ashikunz didn't move; he simply waited for the human to arrive. As Vane landed on his head, he was able to create a small scratch on Ashikunz's armor from which blood started to pour out.
"What? Is this your skin?" Vane looked at the cut he had created, slightly confused.
"It appeared on the armor? How is this possible?" whispered Lily, confused, unable to move both because of the confusion and the fear.
"You should not stop like this…" Ashikunz grabbed Vane by his collar and threw him on the ground with all his strength. Vane spat out some blood as his body crushed with tons of strength against the ground; "It's over for you too." Ashikunz was about to pierce his spear directly into Vane's stomach when suddenly some roots stopped his head.
"I'll not… let you kill others…" said Lily while her body was trembling. Ashikunz let out an annoyed breath before simply putting more strength into his spear; the roots, unable to resist that much force, simply shattered, and the spear pierced into Vane's stomach.
"Argh!!" Vane tried to harden his body, making it as hard as he could, but it was useless; the strength was simply too much, and the spear passed right through his body.
"How did he see us… can he see in the dark?" whispered Catripple. Ashikunz, who had heard her, removed the spear from Vane's stomach and nodded his head.
"I can both see in the dark… and you were all too damn loud. If you had been more silent… maybe you would have been able to escape…" said Ashikunz as he turned again toward Catripple with an angry look. "You've escaped me too many times… and I couldn't kill you because of Zrelekai's experiments." Now Ashikunz stood in a position, ready to rush toward Catripple and pierce her body.
"You won't escape me anymore." Ashikunz pierced Catripple's stomach in less than a second. The woman, who couldn't do anything after the impact, had her organs completely explode, and she fell on the ground lifeless with a huge hole inside her body.
'He said that we were too loud… he can see in the dark…' Tyel was lost in thought as he began to think of a new plan while both Darian and Syrmax hid behind him.
"Tyel, please tell us you have a plan to save us…" asked Darian with a scared tone.
"Don't worry, Darian… Zrelekai still wants you alive; you're the only one who will live," spoke Ashikunz with a threatening tone.
Ashikunz, knowing that Darian hadn't fused yet with Snowy, and looking at the sleeping creature, walked slowly. He knew that because there was no light at all, Syrmax couldn't attack, and the one with the Timehors costume simply didn't have any power, so he couldn't do anything to defend himself.
"So… you knew we were about to go out of this exit?" asked Tyel. While walking slowly, Ashikunz shook his head.
"I didn't know from which exit you were about to come out… but there aren't many exits from there… so I simply glanced around." Ashikunz now finally pointed his spear toward Tyel's throat, ready to pierce it.
"You'll just fall like everyone else… you useless piece of shit without any power," said Ashikunz without hesitation. Tyel removed his mask and looked Ashikunz directly in the eyes.
"This useless piece of shit… will defeat you, the challenge has just begun" said Tyel with an amused tone. Ashikunz let out a soft laugh.
"I'd like to see you try… you will reach your friends soon… good luck." With that, Ashikunz pierced Tyel's throat.
"Déjà Veil."