There's a little bit of violence in this chapter that be a little disturbing to some readers.
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"Be on guard today, even more so than yesterday." Hiro says.
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"What are you expecting? Nothing happened yesterday, so why's today any different?" Rose says.
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"Just take my word for it."
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"Yes sir."
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They start walking towards the meeting room, and once they arrive, they see the other kings arriving in the meeting room at the same time.
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After some small talk, Hiro officially opens the meeting. It goes roughly as Hiro expected with no real progress being made. However, throughout the conversation Hiro feels something pass over him. Magic? Ether? Both? He couldn't quite make out what it was at that moment, but it gave him a slight uneasiness. After he finishes one of his points, he shoots Faust a look, to which he nods his head in agreement.
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"Excuse me, did anyone feel that wave of energy just a moment ago?"
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"No, but what kind of 'energy' was it? Ether?" Asks Arthur.
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"It feels like a combina-". Hiro is cut off by yet another wave. This time, everyone in the room feels it.
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Hiro taps Rose's arm. She instinctively enters Hyper Speed and awaits the next move. There is another wave that passes over them, only this time it's more forceful than before. Immediately following are a few painstakingly long moments of silence. Regardless of the stances they held previously, they were all of one mind now.
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More waves come in at smaller intervals, gradually increasing in forcefulness, and starting to come from above them. After a few more of them hit, the waves stop, allowing for a brief moment of reprieve.
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"Hiro, is this what you've been feeling in Rahu? If so, it makes sense that you're so concerned." Says Relve.
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"Something like that, but with more force and less individual waves." As Hiro finishes his statement there's a loud crash from the room above them, followed by something falling through the ceiling and shattering the meeting table.
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Fear.
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This 'something' was a short, muscular man with a spear in hand. He had an immense, heavy, grotesque aura about him. He felt… monstrous.
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The entire room stood still, until he looked over his shoulder directly at Hiro. As soon as his head turned, the teleporters in the room all reached for their respective kings in an attempt to withdraw but to no avail. He releases a strong wave of ether, shaking everyone in the room before rushing towards Rahvas's teleporter effortlessly decapitating him.
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"It's Xander! Run!" Zero shouts before Xander throws his spear towards him. Sera manages to reach around him and deflect it, but not without getting nicked by it in the process.
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This was exactly the thing they were afraid of. The absolute worst case scenario. Xander's malicious reappearance.
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After deflecting the spear, Sera picks Zero up by his waist and leaps across the room towards the door, carrying him under her arm. Xander tries to intercept, but Rose leaps in, tackling him to the ground.
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"You better come back to help!" Rose shouts at her, before Xander throws her off of him.
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Sera gives a thumbs up to her and sprints out the door. By this point, the other two observers teleport Relve, Therius, and Arthur out of the room, presumably to their home countries. The only ones left in the meeting room are Xander, Rose, Hiro, Faust, and Laura.
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After being thrown off Rose teleports back on top of him, attempting to wrestle him into submission. Before she can gain any kind of advantage, he points to his spear, that's now lodged blade-first in the floor, and magically pulls it towards them. As it flies, she is forced to let go of him to dodge the spear. She scrambles to get back up, but once she does, she's met with a door sized fireball exploding in her face.
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Meanwhile, Hiro puts Laura in a water bubble, and shoves her through the door into the hallway. He exchanges looks with Faust and joins the fight. Faust launches a fireball out of his hand cannon while Hiro swings at Xander with a water sword and fills the room with fog in the process.
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They continue to exchange blows, but something seems off to Rose. She knows that she's the worst fighter in the room, but she seems to be doing the best by a decent size margin. Faust's earlier shot was dodged with ease and Hiro has yet to land a clean hit.
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"Why are you two doing so badly?!" She says while saving Hiro from Xander's attack.
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"That's what we're trying to figure out!" Faust and Hiro shout back at her in unison.
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"Well, figure it out faster!" She shouts as she gets sent flying across the room. Before she hits the wall, she feels herself bump into something, or rather someone.
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"Looks like guys have your hands full." Rex says while helping Rose to her feet.
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"Do something! Hold him off!" Faust says.
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"I hear you, but I’m waiting for someone." Rex says while joining into the fight.
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He engages Xander while parrying a few of his attacks. They both graze each other with their strikes. Hiro takes the opportunity to retreat and regroup with Rose and Faust. While he does, Elajuel teleports in, touches Rex and Xander, and teleports them away.
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"While we have this opportunity, let's figure out what's going on."
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"Agreed. Firstly, Rose. Did you feel anything strange while Xander was in the room?"
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"No, not really. It felt like a normal fight for the most part. The only thing that caught my eye was that Sera and I were moving just fine, but you two weren't."
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"You and Sera? If I had to guess, it's probably something to do with your abilities." Faust says.
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Hiro puts a hand on his face in disappointment.
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"It's time." He says.
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"Time for what?" Rose asks.
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"Not time for something, your abilities are time based."
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"That… makes a lot of sense. I guess that means that I'm just speeding up time for myself then?"
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"Sounds about right. Then that would mean Xander is slowing down time for everyone else around him, hence why you and Sera were moving fine."
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"How does Sera fit into all this?" She asks.
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"Everyone that has an ability has a resistance to that element. For example, someone with a fire ability will have a resistance to heat. Assuming we're right, you have a resistance to other time based abilities, like Xander's. Sera fits because she probably has a time-based ability." Faust explains.
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"But this is just a theory, right?" Rose asks.
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"Sera and Xander's abilities are a guess, but I feel confident in yours.” He says.
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“Hey, where’d Xander go?” Sera says, popping in.
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Out of breath, she returns without Zero, looking around at the damage caused. They catch her up on the situation, and she tells them about what's been happening outside of the fighting. The rest of the children were being evacuated by Elajuel and Rex while Vuella, Helen, and Vuella took care of moving the surrounding townspeople. While they exchange information, they are covered by a massive shadow from overhead.
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"It's been a long time since I've seen him get this big." Hiro says.
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"Why is it… or rather, why is he so big? And where is it going?" Sera asks.
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"He's bigger than normal because Rex is feeding more ether into him than usual. Draconis is normally about the size of a few houses, but right now he's closer to a few dozen houses. Faust, do you have any defensive spells you can use right now?"
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"Of course I do. Simply tell me where."
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"We have to at least cover the city. I can make a shield but I don't know if that'll be enough."
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"Let's get started then. If my guess is correct, then they should be fight somewhere near the Rahuian Mountains."
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"Based on how fast he was going, he'll be there in the next minute or so."
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Hiro gives them a smile and a wave as water starts to pool up around his feet, before blasting him into the air, straight through the ceiling. Immediately after he takes off, Faust grabs his coattails and gets taken with him, while Sera and Rose go outside the palace to follow the action.
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They look up to see Hiro and Faust several thousands of feet in the air. A wall of water starts to expand outwards, with Hiro at its center. At the same time, Faust points to the outskirts of the capital, and a bright red flame shoots out of his fingertip, scorching the ground. Once Hiro's water shield fully extends to the ground, slightly behind Faust's scorched earth, they fall back down to the ground. Hiro creates a bubble around them to break the fall. On impact, Faust touches his palms to the floor, causing his barrier to activate, covering Hiros in a red aura.
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"Good. The impact should reach us in three… two… one…"
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The entire building shook violently as the Draconis arrived at his destination. Faust's barrier shattered instantly. Hiro's water shield stayed standing, but wobbled and warped after Faust's broke.
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"A little tiring, but nothing is too difficult for two kings. Don't you agree, Faust?" Hiro says as he turns around to see no one behind him. He realizes what was happening, but it dawns on him too late.
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He creates a dagger out of fog and turns back to swing behind him. He misses and is met with a dagger to his midsection.
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Sera releases the knife and hops back.
"And with that, my job is done. Or at least half of it." She says, giving a bow.
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"I guess Velajul… was right. Can't… trust… a pretty face." He says through a pained grin.
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"Careful your Majesty. I punctured a lung, so if you want to live until help arrives, you had better stop talking." She says while giving a smile.
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"Oh and one last thing before I leave: I'm pretty sure you figured it out already, but Lord Varasta was behind all of this so you'll have to send any complaints to him. Love you, bye!" She says before sprinting away.
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.
.
.
"Who was that, and where are we?!" Rose yells, screaming at Faust over the wind rushing past their eardrums.
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"This looks like the mountain range Hiro mentioned earlier! If it is, be careful not to get caught up in the battle!" Faust says.
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As they fall, they look down and try to see the fight below them. They see Rex and Xander, locked in combat. With every punch thrown, Rex sends another water dragon out alongside his fists. Xander dodges his fists, but gets grazed by the dragons, each time coming closer to a clean hit.
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Once Rex lands a solid hit to Xanders chest, he summons Draconis once again, this time scooping up Xander in its mouth and taking him high up in the air.
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"Hey, Mr. Tyrol! Do something before Draconis hits us too!"
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Faust grabs her and fires off a massive burst of fire from his fist, pushing them both out of the way. Draconis doesn't touch them, but they still feel the wind and spraying water from his wing beat as he flies past them, before crashing back downwards. On contact with the ground, Draconis's body erupts, eviscerating the ground and nearby surroundings, leaving a massive, mountain sized crater where he landed. Rex starts to wobble, before falling over on his knees.
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Since they've fallen closer to the ground, Rose teleports her and Faust down to join Rex.
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"What are you two doing here? And what happened at the palace?"
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"We sorta got… attacked? If you could really call it that. Someone teleported in and tried to grab Faust. I reacted a little too late to stop him, but I managed to touch him so I got teleported with them."
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"Yes, it seems we were set up, most likely by Zero."
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"So then why haven't you left yet? Hiro's more important tha-"
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Blood splatters. Rose, now on the ground, stares in utter disbelief.
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"Leave…" Rex says, arms still outstretched, with a spear through his stomach, and Xander on the other hand.
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Faust reaches for his hand cannon, but is intercepted by Xander's off-hand, destroying the weapon entirely. He shoots Rose a look, freezing her in place with fear while yanking his spear out of Rex. As his body falls to the ground, Rex weakly mouths the word 'move', trying to snap her out of it.
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Rose looks on in fear as she watches Xander break Faust's weapon. She can't move. Her body won't allow her to even stand in his presence. She was shaken to her core.
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After a few blows to Faust, Xander crouches down, swirling wind magic at his feet, before leaping high into the air in the direction of the palace.
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"WAKE UP ALREADY!" Faust shouts at her.
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Rose is visibly startled.
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"So-sorry about that! I'm… I'm okay now." She says wiping away the cold sweat on her brow.
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"Rex, are you alright?"
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"Does it… look like… I'm alright?"
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"I just need to make sure you'll live if we leave you here with no aid."
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"Just… Go already."
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"Rose, can you teleport us there?"
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"Yes sir."
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She taps his shoulder and takes a deep breath, before teleporting to the palace.
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They teleport into a horrendous scene. At least, for Rose.
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