STAGE EIGHT: THE PRINCESS"Are you okay Kirin?"
Freyja rushed to his side as soon as she caught sight of the silver haired man at the veranda of the castle, waiting for her. "Those soldiers were nothing. How about you? You"ve never flown that much before."
As planned, Kirin knocked the soldiers and guards out during the brief blackout while Freyja rescued the prince and discreetly fly him to safety. They teamed up with some residents of Haia who wanted to overthrow the present king and save the prince. This infuriated the king, who just ordered Kirin, Freyja, and Alaric executed at once.
After using so much aura in saving the prince, Freyja fell onto her knees, catching her breath. She squeezed her chest, feeling a tingling, painful, but tolerable, sensation inside. Freyja shoved the thoughts away and focused on the immediate present. "We must save Alaric."
Freyja and Kirin rushed inside the castle and straight to the throne room, expecting to meet guards along the way. But, on the contrary, not a single soul stopped them. The lights were all out, except for a number of illuminating crystals. And, you can hear the sound of the wind blowing in the hallways.
Wasting no time, Freyja and Kirin barged into the throne room, with Kirin"s dark aura blade shattering the door to pieces. The phreinian-possessed king eyed Freyja from head to toe, feeling a shiver run through his spine. His heart raced, sweat rolled down his forehead as Freyja walked closer and closer to him, displaying her pure white aura and the infamous celestial runeblade, Astrid, in her right hand.
"Have you forgotten? This body belongs to the King of Haia." He taunted, clenching his trembling fists.
Freyja chuckled, surprising him. "Does it look like I care?" Without a trace of hesitation, she charged at him, much to Kirin"s surprise. The phreinian barely evaded her attack by jumping away from the throne, but still sustaining a burning injury on his torso, a faint smell of burnt flesh in the air. "I was going to ask nicely but you really annoyed me this time." Freyja clicked her tongue, her golden orbs piercing through the phreinian"s eyes.
"A celestial indeed. Lives are disposable to you." He mumbled.
The king suddenly collapsed. But very soon, beside his body, a creature appeared. A tall, grey- skinned man with crimson eyes and long grey hair appeared before them. Finally, the phreinian showed its true form. "I still have my puppets with me!" The phreinian summoned five soldiers hiding in the corners of the throne room, all possessed by him. They began attacking Freyja and Kirin mindlessly. However, no matter how many puppet soldiers, or even sorcerers he summoned to attack the two, Kirin was more than enough to handle them all by himself. After all, in terms of overall fighting skill, strength and power, he is still way superior compared to Freyja.
The phreinian was taken aback, after seeing the aura shrouding Kirin. The creature trembled in both fear and surprise, unable to believe what he"s witnessing. "WHAT ARE YOU!? "Your aura is pitch black! The same with the aura of the celestials, but it"s the total opposite. That kind of aura only existed in the legends…" The phreinian shouted, with an obviously trembling voice. "Why is your aura black!? But it isn"t phreinian! It is celestial!"
"Is he talking about my aura?" Kirin thought.
"The black aura is something that is phreinian, but though yours is black, it is closer to the celestial"s whi—" The phreinian"s words stirred fear inside Kirin. He didn"t want to hear anything about his past or about Celestia for now. Especially not in front of Freyja. He attacked the phreinian with his dark aura sword to silence him once and for all. The phreinian, however, still had one last puppet he could use… and the strongest one of all, in fact.
"COME OUT! RUNEMASTER!"
And finally, right before their very eyes, their friend Alaric appeared.
Kirin was about to charge at Alaric, but Freyja stopped him. "Kirin, leave him to me." Kirin was worried that Freyja might drop her guard. But Freyja gave him a rea.s.suring smile, as if telling him that she has a plan. "Alright." Kirin agreed, stepping back. "I"ll leave him to you."
Alaric summoned icicles from up above. Much to their surprise, Freyja called her rune blade off and drew an ordinary aurreinforced sword to fend off Alaric"s attacks. "What the h.e.l.l do you think you"re doing!?" Kirin shouted, but he was ignored. He couldn"t read Freyja"s plan, she did nothing but evade Alaric"s attacks. Being the next head of the runemaster"s guild, Alaric is someone who is still above Freyja in terms of fighting abilities. The only edge Freyja has over him is her celestial aura which she is not using at the moment.
"He is no longer the Alaric I used to know…" She thought, referring to his skills. Since the first time they met, she knew how compet.i.tive and diligent he can be, under the gentle smile he always had on his face. Of course, she can feel, that Alaric saw her as a rival, much more than he"d like to admit.
The icicles he summoned were far stronger and deadlier. His fire pillars were burning much stronger than what she remembers. And above all, his fighting style gave him an almost impenetrable defense. While Freyja managed to block most of his attacks, one of his icicles pierced right through Freyja"s left arm, wounding her deeply. "AGH!" She groaned, rolling in pain. Despite her wound though, she still didn"t call upon her guardians for help.
"LENFIARE! Let me out!" Astrid"s voice reached her from inside the pendant. "LENFIARE!"
"I won"t use Astrid, or anyone against a friend." Freyja haughtily declared, with a smirk. However, it is only a part of the real reason. Freyja used too much of her aura already, that her body is starting to weaken. She only has a few more hours to keep her stance, and she can feel it. Even so, she had to do something to save Alaric.
"Alaric!" Freyja shouted, running straight at the young man while avoiding his attacks. Even before she could get close to him, Alaric summoned ice pillars, which knocked the girl to one side. She felt a broken rib. Freyja endured the pain, and got herself to stand up once again. "Alaric is physically weak… I have to go past his defenses and beat him back to his senses."
"Freyja."
Freyja was astonished, hearing Alaric murmur her name despite his condition. This raised her hopes up, that Alaric is still himself deep within. Alaric conjured a gigantic ball of fire and aimed it straight at Freyja. "Kill the Lenfiare of Celestia!" The phreinian commanded and Alaric made his fireball even bigger. Instead of avoiding it, Freyja stood in front of Alaric with open arms, prepared to accept the fireball head on.
"What are you doing!?" Alaric shouted, as if he"s gotten a piece of his original self, back. "Freyja! RUN!!!" He shouted, crying, unable to control his limbs. Alaric began fighting against himself, for control over his own body, but the phreinian"s strings were tightly holding onto him. He unwillingly released the fireball, straight at Freyja.
"Alaric! Let"s go over there! Hurry! Hurry!"
He remembered the face of the thirteen-year-old Freyja, cheerfully calling him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he watched the fireball fly straight at her. Before the fireball could reach her, she smiled, confidently, smugly.
In a split second, a pair of aura wings spurted out of her back. Just in time, she jumped high, causing a dent in the throne room"s ceilings, while the fireball continued to its path, burning the doors of the throne room.
Freyja charged straight at Alaric from above, who"s left with a few seconds of vulnerability, his aura still recovering after releasing such a powerful fireball. The phreinian"s "strings" controlling the runemaster limited him from using his full aura potential. After all, part of his aura is being used by the parasitic strings to control him. This small gap proved to be a great weakness, when properly exploited. Freyja, bare-fisted but carrying the momentum of her descent, punched Alaric in the face, instantly knocking him unconscious. The phreinian was stunned.
"I was about to jump in there to stop that fireball, you know." Kirin cracked a joke. "Well, I don"t want to end up seriously hurting Alaric just to snap him out of that control, do I?" She chuckled.
"It"s hard to believe you, looking at that bruise on his face." Kirin shook his head, chuckling. "And as for you. You don"t have dolls to fight for you anymore, do you?"
The phreinian took steps back, visibly trembling in fear as both Freyja and Kirin inched closer and closer.
"Dalluois!" The Phreinian exclaimed with his hands up. "I offer you my heart, my body, my very soul! Give me the power!"
All of a sudden, the desperate Phrein shouted, as if in prayer. The ground shook, and debris fell from up above. "Freyja, get away from him!" Kirin shouted, sensing the phreinian"s aura acc.u.mulate around it. Chandeliers, more debris fell from the collapsing ceiling. The castle shook as the phreinian emitted a sudden burst of aura that damaged the ceiling and the walls.
Alaric was barely conscious, but too weak to move, Kirin shielded him from debris. "Kirin…" he managed to get the word out. "Sh.. save your strength." Kirin carried Alaric on his back as they evaded the gigantic slabs of stone from above, and the cracks on the ground.
The battle is far from over. From the windows, black beams of aura entered the room from outside. Freyja just noticed that from the throne room, you can see the tower, the temple housing the Haine crystal. In an instant, she knew what the desperate phreinian was trying to do. He is calling upon the crystal of the kingdom and took the entire aura that"s supposed to be used in opening the gates to Phrein, for himself.
"s.h.i.t! Stop him!" Freyja didn"t wait for him to finish. "Astrid!" She summoned the runeblade and attacked the phreinian, even before he could get the entire aura from Haine crystal. Like the "core" of Celestia, the crystal of Haia is the major source of aura in both setting up the kingdom"s defenses, and in making their machines work. Now that the phreinian is sucking it all up, the cities and the barriers around the country began to lose its power. The entire kingdom"s lights went off one by one, the barriers that are supposed to keep the invading countries out began to disappear. Freyja knew exactly what to do, and she did.
Freyja managed to stab her rune blade right into the phreinian"s chest. However, their body structure is different and it turned out that she didn"t hit any vital parts. She jumped back, and Kirin took his turn. He intuitively guessed the weak part of the phreinian, stabbing his dark aura sword on the lower abdomen of the enemy, which turned out to be its heart. The phreinian released a strong burst of aura, making Kirin jump a few meters back.
To end it once and for all, Freyja charged at the Phreinian, aimed at its lower abdomen, with her runeblade burning stronger than ever.
"DIE!"
But even before she could hit, Freyja felt a piercing pain right through her chest. It was like the sensation before, but a magnified by a hundredfold! Freyja dropped the celestial sword, the protective aura around her dissipated, leaving her bare against the enemy. Freyja rolled in pain, holding her chest while the phreinian took this precious chance to turn the tables. "I"ll take you with me! Lenfiare of Celestia!"
"No, you won"t!" Kirin rushed to Freyja"s side at once, but there was someone who beat him to it—Alaric.
Alaric took the phreinian"s attack head on, with only a thin aura barrier as his defense. It was the last of Alaric"s aura, he had to recuperate. It was fatal for him to drain himself. Nevertheless, he wanted to protect Freyja at all costs. True enough, though he succeeded, he was brutally thrown to one side, along with Freyja in his arms.
For a second, the phreinian thought the tides have turned. But then he forgot the strongest warrior of the three, Kirin. Like a phantom, wasting no second, Kirin called his dark aura sword, reinforced it with fairly large amounts of dark aura, before piercing it through the Phreinian.
And again, and again, and again. "You p.i.s.sed me off big time." He whispered, a rain of dark aura blades from above skewered the phreinian.
"This… aura…" the phreinian murmured, with his last breath, looking at Kirin in astonishment. "What… are… y…"
Kirin summoned yet another sword from his dark aura and stabbed it right through the phreinian"s head, instantly breaking his skull and its eyes gorging out.
The ground stopped shaking, the dark aura beams coming from the windows disappeared, and the creature fell on the ground, body full of holes, and purple blood on the floor.
"Thanks Kirin, and I"m sorry about that." Freyja said, dragging herself towards Kirin, still in pain. "Good thing he didn"t complete the transformation, if he did, it would be troublesome." Kirin called off his dark aura blades and turned to the girl. "Are you guys alright? What happened to you back there?"
Freyja sighed. "I must have used my aura far too much. I still need practice after all. Sorry for the trouble." Kirin ruffled her hair, before they turned to the runemaster lying on the ground.
"Alaric, are you okay? Can you hear me?" She called.
Slowly, Alaric opened his eyes and found both Kirin and Freyja beside him. He sat up and saw the corpse of the phreinian, along with the unconscious body of the King and some injured Haian guards around. He then remembered how he was tempted by the phreinian"s spell. Even in the airship, he had already submitted to their calls and ended up betraying his friends. Alaric was so ashamed of himself he couldn"t look at them straight.
Freyja and Kirin noticed tears rolling down from Alaric"s sapphire eyes. It alarmed them. "Alaric, What"s wrong!? Are you hurting somewhere!? Tell me!" She panicked, prepared to use Aria to heal him if he sustained fatal injuries. "Alaric!"
"WHY!?" Alaric shouted, "Why don"t you just hate me!? It would be easier for me! I… I did terrible things and I…" Freyja didn"t let the rune master finish. She held his face with both hands. "I am just glad… that you"re back. Right Kirin?" Kirin sighed and he nodded, with a soft smile on his face.
Alaric jumped into Freyja"s arms, his arms tightly wrapped around her. He bawled his eyes out, like a child. It felt like the emotions he has kept under control for so many years, ever since the death of his mother, has piled up and are now gushing out freely for the first time. Fears, regret, anxiety, everything just came out all at once.
Freyja and Kirin looked and smiled at each other. Freyja wrapped her arms around the crying runemaster and gently rubbed circles on his back.
"It"s alright Alaric, everything"s okay now. We"re here."
"It"s alright Alaric, I"m here."
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