[PRESENT]
Kadaski's POV
Ang pag-tango ni Drago ang senyas na natapos niya na ang kaniyang parte sa High-Tier Spell na gagawin namin. Para sa spell na ito, huhugot kami ng kapangyarihan sa Madoka Dragon at ito ang gagamitin namin upang patumbahin ang malaking ahas na iyon.
Nang isinigaw na ni Ryoline ang utos sa kaniyang alaga upang tirahin ang nakalutang na Acid Meteor sa ere, saka ko na rin pinagdugtong ang mga dulo ng bilog ng magic circle na inihanda namin ng kaibigan ko. "Call of the Madoka: Arise!" sabay naming enchant ni Drago.
The earth around Naga and Ryoline shook as red spikes started rising from the circumference of the circle like a cage. It continued rising upwards in a slow but strong quake before its ends closed like a shelter over all of us.
"What is it this time?!" naiinis na tanong ni Ryoline. "Wait, where did the sun go? Why is the atmosphere red?!"
With my new location, I finally got a clear view of Phantom, and immediately felt revulsion seeing that her uniform was now covered in blood, however it looked dry.
Phantom who was oozing of bloodlust at the moment suddenly suppressed her desires when the mouth of Madoka engulfed the area around us. Using her katana she grabbed Ryoline around her stomach and stabbed an area of Naga between its scales to keep them from falling, before stepping on her weapon's blade.
I showed my location and made my way in the middle of the forest, it seems like the summon also caused Naga, the Mythical Beast, to pause on her tracks.
Drago also reveals himself and dashes to my direction with a smile, "we're inside the mouth of the Madoka Dragon, Ryoline."
"The mouth of a dragon? Tch, so what? You won't be able to escape the blast of my attack. Naga!" bulalas ni Ryoline na sapat lamang upang magpatuloy ang ahas na gumalaw.
"True, we won't be able to escape, but we were able to drag this fight for too long that the trap we prepared caught you in it. The Madoka Dragon is immune to any fire and explosive attacks and would immediately absorb your spell." I told her before smirking.
Ryoline looked surprised, and I took that silence as her admittance of defeat. "It seems like its over." I told Drago, but when I glanced at him he was no longer smiling.
"Aski, we need to make Naga hit that attack immediately. Summoning a part of Madoka would definitely backfire in our bodies, and maintaining the magical circle is hard enough." he whispered balling his hands into a fist.
"On it." I responded as I start provoking the Naga to speed up its attack by annoying it with fireballs. "Shit, it's coming! Hide behind the fangs."
Thanks to my fire propulsions, I was able to immediately get behind a fang, yet for another reason my best friend seemed to have other plans than mine. He was making his way up the scales of the Mythical Beast, and his eyes were looking at a certain direction - at Ryoline and Phantom.
"Virdjana get behind the fang, bring Ryoline with you." he shouts.
I frowned at first, but my surging annoyance vanished when Drago summersaults from the back of the snake towards the back of a fang besides where I am. 'So, he simply warned the asshole.'
In a matter of seconds, Phantom made it besides us while she was carrying the injured Ryoline followed by the explosion of Maxima Toxifica: Acid Meteor. As expected, the mouth of the Madoka took the energy as food and it was gone afterwards.
The mouth of Madoka disintegrated into red dusts while the magical circle that Drago and I created dissipated. The cloudy, foggy atmosphere of the Cleopardia returned to normal, and the Starblaze wolves also went back to their smaller sizes before scampering away from us. It seemed like the explosion also knocked out the Mythical Beast.
Phantom placed Ryoline down, albeit not gently, earning a groan from the younger girl. "Do you always have to be so harsh about everything?" I told her before moving towards Nanami Ryoline.
"Virdjana, you did this to her?" Drago stated in surprise.
The moment that Drago started removing the bloodied clothes on Ryoline's stomach, was the moment I saw the deep wound she received. Not to mention the earlier wound the girl got from Phantom's Wind Shuriken.
"Don't worry too much, I didn't hit any organ." spoke this former Silent Thief.
"No matter, it's still deep." I stated, giving her a glare. "She could die from blood loss."
"Oh, don't act like a good samaritan Nueva. Don't forget that she was also fighting us with the intent to kill." smirked Phantom.
This piece of asshole, I'm going to give her another punch she won't forget! "You! I'll knock you out!" I shouted, as I prepare my arms to give her the punch of a lifetime.
"Try me~." chuckled this woman, as I noticed her finger lifting the hilt of the daggers from its sheath.
"Both of you stop!" shouted Drago.
Damn, he's mad- I stopped on my feet, but Phantom remained with her blade half-exposed.
"Our mission is not yet done. We may have caught Ryoline, but we haven't retrieve the missing artifact yet." Drago said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Righttt, about that. Why don't the two of you track the book down and I go bring Ryoline back to the academy?" suggested Phantom in a complacent tone.
This Eumythymn Hunter is getting on my nerves, well, she always has been getting on my nerves. The way she talks to us as if she was stronger, as if she was the leader of this mission. I bet she was also feeling superior because of the fact that she has a ghostly servant she can call anytime she wanted.
"No. Master Shin ordered the three of us to complete this mission, we should be a team." began Drago as he glances from Phantom then to me, "I have a healing potion here, we can relieve Ryoline's wound and ask for answers. We bring her with us as a human map."
"And you think I'd simply talk?" said Ryoline while smirking, she was wearing a smug expression but was quickly overtaken by the pain of her injuries.
"You better talk or else you'll die here alone." said Drago with a smile.
What? I've never heard him speak like that before. I never knew that Drago is so good at bluffing and acting. I guess it was necessary since this is an important mission. I decided to stay quiet since I know that I'm no good when it comes to convincing people, I literally suck at it.
"I've done torture before, would you like to experience it Junior Nanami?" said Phantom, as she bends over Ryoline, causing her long black hair to casually flow besides both side of her face, thus covering whatever expression she was making.
"Virdjana enough with the jokes, why don't you and Kadaski head over there while I do my best with Ryoline." smiled Drago.
"Are you sure Drago?" I asked, there was that knackering bad feeling in my gut again.
"My jokes? Alright, if you say so." said Phantom, causing me to raise a brow.
She started walking away, and I simply followed. We were about ten meters away from the two so Drago and Ryoline could get their privacy, and negotiations if there was any.
Alone with this woman again, hopefully she won't start any conversation with me.
Virdjana's POV
He sensed my bloodlust, and stopped me by calling it a joke. I chuckled internally, as I crouched underneath a damaged tree, with both arms resting on my legs. I did a couple of arm stretches, before changing positions so I could rest under the shades.
I gave Kadaski Nueva a quick glance. Judging by the way he was crossing his arms in front of his chest, it was obvious to me that his guard is raised. He was giving me the implication that I should not bother him.
Fortunately for him, I could not use my mind-reading at the moment since Reggie is currently roaming away from me. I gave him a particular order. According to my experience, Reggie is able to separate from the Guardian Relic and go wherever he wants however limited to how much power the wearer of the relic has.
That means that if I happen to be as a weak as I was years ago, Reggie would not be able to travel away for more than 10 meters from the necklace. One more thing is that the longer my guardian is away from me, the more energy it takes to maintain the distance between us.
Kadaski must be so wary of me after a couple of those things that I pulled. "Exhausted?" I asked.
Aski pretended to not hear me, and continued minding his own business.
He really does not want to talk to me, that's alright. I don't have anything to discuss with him except for that one thing regarding his nightmare.
On the other hand, Drago already got involved with my personal mission thanks to Reggie pressuring me to take this red-haired Fire Enchant with me at Hurricania.
Niloloko ko lamang ang sarili ko kung sasabihin kong walang naimbag si Drago sa maikling biyaheng iyon. Hindi ko agad napansin ang mga Manta Ray na nakapaligid sa Hurricania, at hindi ko rin kaagad mahahanap ang nakatagong compartment sa bahay ko kung hindi ko siya kasama. Ngunit kahit gaano pa ka-tama si Reggie, hindi pa rin ako matutuwa.
Drago Arcedes, nabanggit nitong napuntahan na nito ang bayan ng Hurricania. That in itself, was not enough of a reason for me to get mad at him, but why did I get angry in the first place? I brushed a few strands of my hair, 'I think it's better to tie this all off.' I grabbed a thick rubber band from my pocket and turned my hair into a high ponytail. 'Much better. I could feel the calming cold wind properly now.'
"What the heck is that?" asked Kadaski.
I opened one eye before analyzing the expression on Kadaski Nueva's face.
"Your neck has burn marks on it." he looked stupefied.
His expression was nothing to me, even my old comrades in the city were surprised of this wounds. I'm used to it, so it would be easy to dodge it about.
"Isn't that obvious? You of all people, should find this normal given that you handle the fire element." I answered while removing the blazer of my uniform that was covered in dried blood. My inner white shirt also have a few splatter of blood but that's about it. I placed my blazer in my bag.
Kadaski grimaced. "Phantom, whoever did that to you would be a shame to the Blaze Village."
'Hmm, I really have no idea.' I thought to myself.
I found myself slightly chortling, but prevented myself from bursting into laughter. "How impulsive of you to assume that. Wala naman akong sinasabing isang Karthalia ang nagbigay ng pilat na ito sa akin."
His eyes widened, and I found it annoying when a flash of commiseration appeared on his face.
"Jeez, I see where this is going. We'll stop there Nueva. No need to feel bad about it." said I before giving him a wink and grabbing my katana to cut loose the rubber hand, causing my hair to fall down again covering my burn wounds.
"I didn't say I'm feeling bad for you. Tch, you and your mind reading." he grumbled before marching back to Drago and Ryoline. "Come on you two! I think you're about done there." he told them.
I don't even need to use that ability since you're such an open book, either way I can't do it since Reggie is not nearby.
"Of course, we're all set." agreed Drago before helping Ryoline up, one arm around his neck to support the girl.
I walked back to the group and gave Ryoline a studying glance, she flinched when our eyes met. Scaredy-cat.
"So, where to now?" asked Kadaski.
"Retromalus - the Town of Hazbins." answered Drago Arcedes.